


Venture Beyond

by NotGuyFieri



Series: Works In Progress [2]
Category: Batman - All Media Types, DCU, Red Hood and the Outlaws (Comics), Static Shock, Superman - All Media Types, The Flash - All Media Types, Young Justice (Cartoon)
Genre: 1880s, Adventure, Alternate Universe - 19th Century, Alternate Universe - Historical, Alternate Universe - Steampunk, Alternate Universe - Western, American History, American Indian, Arranged Marriage, Assassins & Hitmen, Bandits & Outlaws, Chicago, Eventual Romance, F/M, Friendship, Gen, Lex Luthor Is Quite Overweight, M/M, Magic, Native American Tribes, New York City, Old West, Other Relationships To Be Tagged, STAR Labs, Steampunk, Story Arcs, Takes Place In 1883, United States, Witchcraft, courting, inventions, other characters to be tagged - Freeform, romance is not the focus, saga, this is going to be much longer than i originally anticipated
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-04-24
Updated: 2017-08-06
Packaged: 2018-10-23 06:56:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 17
Words: 79,498
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10714485
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NotGuyFieri/pseuds/NotGuyFieri
Summary: It is the year 1883, and sixteen year old Bart Allen is destined by his parents to marry a woman he doesn't love. Then, tragedy happens, which ends up taking both of their lives. Now with free will, he decides to call off his marriage and leave his home of Chicago to work with his grandfather, Barry Allen, in STAR Labs in New York City. In his time there, an accident happens, and Bart is doused with chemicals, granting him with the ability of super speed. Finding himself in trouble due to his new abilities, he is forced to flee, and the only place he can hide is in the untamed west. During the time he's out west, he meets new friends just like him, and faces new problems, journeys, and adventures along the way of trying to get his life back together.This story so far has four major arcs.ARC 1: The Occurrences That Lead Up To Bart Allen's Speed [chapters 1 - 4]ARC 2: The Tale Of The Outlaws [chapters 5 - 12]ARC 3: A Chronicle Of Bats [chapters 13 -16]ARC 4: Virgil Hawkins' Curse [chapters 17 - ][Steampunk/Wild West AU]





	1. The Occurrences That Lead Up To Bart Allen's Speed (PT 1)

** The Occurrences That Lead Up To Bart Allen's Speed **

One could argue that Bart Allen lived a relatively nice life in Chicago. Perhaps he wasn't the richest boy in the city, but he had food on the table every night, even if it was mostly just beans and corn. He had Don Allen, a man who worked in the shoe-making factory, and Meloni Allen, a mother who greeted him every time he came home from school and kept the house nice and clean. With a source of income and both parents, Bart would sometimes find himself thanking the lord how lucky he was.

Disease was spread wide throughout the city, especially in the poorer parts. Bart Allen knew many classmates had lost at least one parent due to such a cause, and even knew classmates themselves who died. The case of 1876's pneumonia took out some of his closest friends. Bart himself had caught the chicken pox and different kinds of flu a couple of times, but always managed to recover. His father claimed it was good genes.

At fourteen, Bart finished school. Yes, his family had money, but only the really rich folks went to high school. Bart would always hold a somewhat bitter grudge on his father, for his father's father was very rich. Grandfather Barry Allen used to be rich, but with his marrying of Iris West, he was now _very_ rich, and owned what was called " _STAR Labs"_ in New York City.

Bart knew the story as to why they weren't rich- love. The Allens and the Thawnes were foes, dating back to when the United States of America was first founded. Grandpa Barry and Grandma Iris had two children, a little boy named Don Allen, and a little girl named Dawn Allen. Don Allen, Bart's father, had fallen in love with the Thawnes' little girl, Meloni. The two sides refused to mend their rivalry, and even had other people arranged to marry their children. With that, Meloni and Don decided to run away and elope in Chicago, far away from New York City.

With this action, Don Allen was removed from Barry's will.

After Bart finished school, his father decided to have "the talk" with him. Telling him that within a couple years he was to be married, and both he and his mother had talked to the Jones' family, believing Cissie Jones was to be a fine match for him. Both families had similar income levels, and Cissie's father had worked at the same factory as Don Allen, just in a higher ranking.

Bart wasn't too happy to hear about the news. He knew his parents were to marry him off one day, but he still felt like it was all dumb. He felt as if he were going to marry a lady and be with her for the rest of his life, he should have had a say in the matter. And though Cissie was without a doubt a pretty girl, he didn't love her. Despite his protests against being married off, he was forced to court Cissie.

Cissie was big into archery and taught him how to shoot. For fun, the two took one of Cissie's younger cousins (the one who would often watch them, it was just a thing in courting) and put her in the backyard. They took apples off the apple tree, placed one on her head at a time, and took turns shooting them off. It was fun until Cissie's mother came running out, screaming at how they were wasting fresh fruit and how they could accidentally kill the girl.

After spending nearly two years courting Cissie, Bart still failed to feel romantic love for her, even though Don promised it would happen. Bart did love Cissie, but not in the way he was supposed to. He loved her like a friend, or like a sister, and cared about her very much, but he knew something was just off. Something wasn't right, and he didn't want to marry Cissie. In the Jones' living room during Christmas time, Cissie looked back and forth before admitting to Bart that she didn't want to marry him, either.

The day was May fourth, the year of 1883. At the time, Bart was soon to be sixteen, and soon to be married. He was sitting in the kitchen with his father, his mother had left to run some errands. It was just after breakfast time and the sunlight poured its way into the house, and Don was sipping on some coffee and reading a book. All was quiet, except for the sounds of the outdoors. Hooves were clopping across the pavement, an occasional whinny of a horse, the chatter of men, and the chirps of birds.

Bart sat with his arms crossed, looking at the floor. "I don't want to marry Cissie."

Don looked up at him, though Bart wouldn't meet his gaze. "What do you mean?"

"I don't love her. Not in the way I'm supposed to." Bart admitted, "At heart, she's my sister. My friend. Not my lover, not my bride."

"You've been courting Cissie for almost two years, Bart." Don pointed out, "Surely you love her. Besides, your wedding is in two months. You may just be nervous."

"I'm not just nervous." Bart grumbled, "I thought marriage was supposed to be about love, pap. But it seems you want me to marry her because of the money. You got to marry the woman you love, you took her over money. Why can't I do the same?"

Don didn't speak.

"I don't mean to disrespect you," Bart continued, "but this idea you've got going on in your head- it's hypocritical, pa."

Don slammed his coffee on the table, causing some of it to spill out. Bart looked up at him in surprise. "Don't you call me that! You can't compare our situations, Bartholomew. Miss Canary and I hated each other's guts, polar opposites, we were. Had we been alone during our courtship, the woman would've stabbed me with a knife! At least you and Cissie get along, at least you have _some_ kind of love!"

"But that love isn't close enough!" Bart said, and stood up, clenching his fists. "Regardless of what I feel about Cissie right now, or if I absolutely hated her, I'd still have the same idea in mind- to _not_ marry her."

Don stood up, "You _are_ going to marry Cissie Jones! I'm not trying to be mean, Bart! Don't you realize this is what's best for all of us?"

"You were a good father, Donald Allen, but you are a _goddamn hypocrite_ and that's that!" Bart yelled.

"Don't you say the lord's name in vain, Bartholomew! Enough out of you!"

"What on Earth is going on in here?" Meloni demanded as she entered the kitchen, an authoritative look plastered on her face as she set down the bags from her errands on the table. Both Bart and Don had been so angry at each other that they didn't even hear her enter the house.

Don sighed, looking up at the clock on the wall. He ignored her question. "As you both know, I have a fishing trip with my coworkers along the lake today. I'll be back by six p.m."

"Don Allen, don't you-" Meloni tried to say, but her husband had already grabbed his fishing pole and exited the house. She turned to Bart, who sat back down at the table, refusing to look her in the eye. "Tell me what's going on, Bart. _Now."_

Bart sighed, running a hand through his locks of brown hair, still not looking up at his mother. "I'm not in love with Cissie. I don't want to marry her. Pap says I don't have a choice in the matter. It isn't fair, ma. How come he got to choose love over money but I don't?"

Meloni's hard look softened. She sat down, pulling up a chair next to him, placing a hand on his shoulder. He looked up at her, and she let out a sad smile. "He's scared, Bart. It may not seem like it, but he wants this to happen because he loves you. He truly doesn't want to force you to marry someone you don't love."

"Huh?"

"Don and I chose love over money when it came down to our marriage, but of course, it didn't go unpunished. When we fled to Chicago, we were poor. Very poor. Starving, cold, sick. We barely managed to get back on our feet. Most people who marry for love aren't able to, and either die or live miserably. You see, to marry because of love isn't a common thing for a good reason, Bart. Money provides security, a warm bed to sleep in, food. It provides you a way to survive. And uniting two families because of money, well, that's a way of protection. That's why we arrange our children's marriages. That's why we court. We're trying to keep you alive."

Bart sighed, "I wish it didn't work that way."

Meloni let out a sigh as well. "I know, sweetheart. Me, too. Now, can you help me store the meat in the icebox for dinner tomorrow night?"

Bart let out a small smile and nodded.

x

Early the next morning, Don still hadn't come home. Meloni was cleaning and Bart was getting ready for work when there was a knock on the door.

"Must be Don." Meloni said as she stood up and walked towards the door, "I swear, if he's only back now because he was out drinking with his buddies again, I'll- Officer Wilson! Hello, sir."

"Hello, Mrs. Allen. I'm afraid I must bring tragic news." the officer hung his head.

"What is it?" concern spread across her face, and by this time, Bart was right by the door with her.

"Your husband, Donald Allen, was involved in a terrible boating accident last night. As you know, there was an unexpected storm, and the boat he was on ended up sinking. Fishermen discovered his body, along with the bodies of five other men, in the water this morning. I'm sorry."

Bart stood in shock as Meloni hugged him and began to cry.

"If there's anything we can do, the city of Chicago is willing to help. I'm terribly sorry for your loss." Officer Wilson tipped his hat before exiting, Meloni still crying. Bart began to cry along with her, holding his mother in close.

x

Dinner that night was completely silent. Neither Bart nor Meloni touched their food, and they both looked down at the floor. Bart couldn't stop thinking about how his last talk with his father ended up being an argument.

Throughout the day, their neighbors had come around to pray for them and drop off gifts and food, but none of that helped.

Bart never even got to say goodbye.

"I don't know what I'm going to do without your father." Meloni finally admitted.

Bart didn't respond.

x

Don's funeral happened. It was small, but very solemn and Bart was glad he attended. He spoke a few words about his father, but didn't really speak to Don's friends that came along.

Throughout the next month, however, Meloni seemed to be getting sick. Bart knew it wasn't physical sickness- Meloni was suffering from awful depression, and Bart had no idea what to do about it. Doctors couldn't cure something like that.

He and Meloni didn't speak that much to each other, and Bart watched as his mother's conditioned worsened. Meloni refused to eat, drink, or sleep. She usually sat down in her chair in the living room, staring out the window, not saying a word. Bart tried her best to help her, really. He tried to get her to do things that were essential to her survival, but she refused, and he was left in the dark.

He came home from work one day and discovered her on her chair, as per usual, except she was most definitely dead.

He didn't cry. He just stood there, looking at his mother, before sighing. Feeling exhausted, eyelids half closed, he walked right back out the door before going to the police station, looking at the man behind the counter.

"My name is Bartholomew Allen. I'm sixteen. It appears my mother has died from a broken heart. What can I do now?"

x

Bart inherited his parent's money and house, went to work, and still couldn't afford to hold a funeral for his mother, despite the Jones offering to help pay for it. In fact, he had yet to cancel his plans of marriage with Cissie, but honestly didn't want to. With both of his parents gone, he assumed it'd just be best to marry her. It's what both of his parents wanted, and he wanted some sort of sense of family. He didn't have that many friends. After most of them died from pneumonia when he was nine, he told himself he'd never make friends again, and he'd honestly say his only friend at this point was Cissie, and he was good acquaintances with some of her relatives.

As each day passed and as his wedding day got closer, Bart began to feel more and more lonely and depressed, and wondered if he caught the same disease- broken heart, that is- as his mother. And despite the Jones spending more time at his home and with him, their love and affection couldn't fill the void that his parents left.

He visited his parents at their grave, dropping off flowers at the tombstones that sat next to each other. He collapsed to his knees and buried his face in his hands and began to sob, not caring who saw.

He had enough of suffering. He wasn't going to wait until his broken heart killed him- he was going to do the deed himself. His father still had his revolver left in the closet, and he decided that once he got home, he would shoot himself with it. Suicide was a sin, but he was hoping God would make an exception for him and understand his pain and desire to see his parents again, and wouldn't condemn him to Hell.

"I'll see you soon." he promised as he began to walk back towards his home. He entered, going into his untouched parents' room, opening up the squeaky closet door, pulling out the revolver and loading it with a single bullet. He sat down, opening his mouth and sticking the muzzle of the gun inside.

A loud knocking on the door made him nearly jump out of his skin.

" _Bartholomew? Bartholomew Allen, are you home?"_ a voice shouted from the outside.

Bart sighed, putting the gun on the floor and leaving the closet, closing the door behind him. He opened the door only to see an old man with a head full of white hair and bright blue eyes grinning at him. He was about to slam the door shut when the old man caught it.

"Bartholomew, correct?" the man said.

"I go by Bart, but yeah, that's me… who are you?" Bart asked.

"Why, I'm Barry Allen! Your grandfather."

A perplexed look ran over Bart's face. "What? Aren't you in New York? Why are you here?"

"Didn't you get my letter?"

"Letter?" Bart looked over to the kitchen table, which had a few envelopes he didn't bother opening stacked on it. He walked over, looking for the one addressed to him from Barry. He finally found it. "This?" he held it up.

"Precisely." Barry nodded. "Read it, won't you?"

Bart opened the envelope and began to read.

_June 1st, 1883_

_Dear Bartholomew Allen,_

_I am Barry Allen, and I have never got the chance to properly meet you. However, upon hearing of both your mother and father's deaths and in such a short time span, I wanted to grant to an invitation to come live with me, as you are still family._

_I am a very wealthy man. I work with Bruce Wayne, also known as "America's Richest Man", and I run STAR Labs, a company located in New York City dedicated to furthering technology as we know it using steam-powered tactics._

_Though me and your father may have had a falling out, that does not make me upset or angry with you. I would love to get to know you, and I believe we would enjoy working together in New York._

_I will be coming to visit you soon, in perhaps a week or two. I am hoping we can bond, and talk about the idea more._

_With sincerity,_

_Barry Allen, your Grandfather._

"Huh." Bart said.

"What do you think?" Barry asked.

"I'll have to think on it." Bart lied, "but I'm kind of busy right now, so you should probably-"

"May you show me around the city of Chicago?" Barry requested.

"I, uh-" Bart looked at his grandfather, then sighed. "Sure. Yeah. I'll do that." he said, hoping that completing this request now would allow him to slip into the afterlife with relative ease later tonight.

The day consisted of Barry and Bart telling each other about their lives, grabbing hot dogs to eat, and some shopping. Bart never got to shop as a luxury, but Barry surely had money, and he got some nice clothes. Barry spoke of a new city that was recently developed in central Illinois, near Springfield, simply called " _Central City"_ , and he claimed that it would soon give Chicago a run for its money.

Barry was a bit " _nutty"_ at times as Bart would put it, but he ended up liking the man, and swore that void his parents left was at least somewhat filled. That night, he and Barry went to a restaurant, the first restaurant Bart had ever been to. Bart was amazed at all of the options he had to choose from. During the dinner, Bart spoke about being regretful having an argument with his father before he died, and how he didn't want to marry Cissie.

"I'll admit it, Bart," Barry said, "As the years passed, I've regretted more and more that I didn't attempt to come to peace with the Thawne family. I was lucky enough to be a rich man myself, have a rich wife, and be in love with her. Barry didn't love Dinah- you may know her as Miss Canary. Oh, boy. I should've never forced the lad to try and be with her. I missed my son more and more as time passed; I didn't know you even existed until a couple of years ago, and look at you! You're already a man. I should've been more involved in your life, Bartholomew- Bart. And I'm sorry I wasn't."

"That's okay." Bart said, "But I wonder, should I call off my marriage with Cissie? I don't have my parents around anymore, and it's really my choice now."

"It is really up to you, but I'll leave my two cents. If you do not want her to be your bride, and she does not want you to be her groom, then I would say it's a good idea to call the marriage off. Besides, if you come with me back to New York City, you'll have to bring her with me, and her family may miss her dearly." Barry replied.

"You're right," Bart said, "I hadn't thought about the aspect of leaving. And I am ready to leave, Grandpa."

"So you're coming back with me?" Barry's eyes lit up.

"Yeah. Yeah, I will." Bart smiled with a tinge of hope that things would be better.

"Ah, yes! This will be fantastic!" Barry cheered.

"But I have to call off my wedding with Cissie first." Bart reminded him, and then a question suddenly hit him. "I know you're rich because of your company, but why is your wife's family rich?"

"Ah! Well, you see, my wife, Iris Allen, her maiden name was Iris _West,_ though you probably know that. Iris's father was apart of the California Gold Rush, and boy did he get a lot of gold. The man, who was twenty-five at the time, was married and had a daughter. He worked day and night mining, making sure his family would have enough to live off of for the rest of their lives. He moved to New York City where he met my father, who had opened STAR Labs. He and my father were best of friends, and Iris and I were, too. And eventually, we fell in love, got married, uniting the West and Allen families, and we had a son and daughter of our own."

"What happened to your daughter?" Bart asked in curiosity.

"Dawn? Oh, she's married to Jeven Ognats, the son of the mayor of New York City. Soon to be the mayor, with how his father's health is doing." Barry mumbled, "They have one daughter, and her name is Jenni."

"So I'll basically get to meet all of my relatives once I move to New York?" Bart asked excitedly. He couldn't help it, though. His entire life, it'd just been him, his mom, and his dad.

"Well, not exactly." Barry bit his lip, "You'll see the Allens, yes, but my wife's family is spread out within the west, and you can try to speak to your mother's family, though you may find it difficult. They are our competitors." he warned.

"That's okay." Bart said, "At least I'll have some family to speak to." he looked down at his finished plate. "Can we leave now? I think I should go tell Cissie and her family about my decis-"

"Good idea! And I'll purchase our train tickets for tomorrow morning while you're doing that." Barry replied.

"What am I supposed to do with the house?" Bart asked.

"Keep it, it's yours." Barry said, "If you don't want to sell it, you don't have to."

"I don't." Bart admitted.

"Very well then. Go on, tell your friend that she is not to be your bride. I'll be at the train station. We shall meet back at your home."

Barry left his money for the meal on the table and they exited.

x

Bart knocked on the door of the Jones' household. Cissie answered. "Bart!" she smiled, "Come on in."

The rest of Cissie's family greeted him as he walked in. "May I speak with Cissie in private for a moment? I promise it won't be long." Mr. Jones granted him permission.

"Cissie," he said once they arrived to her backyard, "I'm calling off our marriage."

Cissie stared in shock for a moment before tightly hugging him. "Thank you!" she mumbled into his chest, "Oh Bart, I love you, I love you very much. But you're like a brother to me, and I don't want to be your wife. I'm also in love with another man, and we've been secretly seeing each other." she admitted, "I may elope with him, I'm not sure."

"It's okay. I love you too, you're my sister." Bart told her, wrapping her in his embrace, "And I wish you the best of luck with this other man in your life. Do what your heart tells you, okay?"

Cissie looked up at him and nodded. "Promise."

"Also, I'm leaving for New York City in the morning." Bart added.

Cissie's eyes widened and she separated their hug. " _What?!"_

"My grandpa Barry came and visited me. I want to go back to him and work with him at his laboratory in New York City."

Cissie seemed sad, and Bart could understand. "I promise to write and visit you, I swear." he said.

"You will. I know you will." Cissie nodded again.

"Should we tell the rest of your family?" Bart asked.

"Yeah. They won't take it well, but regardless, they'll respect your decision." she said.

They walked back inside together. Upon breaking the news that the marriage was off and Bart was leaving, their was lots of loud gasps and faces of shock, and Mrs. Jones swore she was having a heart attack. After it settled in, however, they gave Bart tight hugs, told him he absolutely had to visit, and he promised he would.

Bart returned home, to where Barry was sitting on the bench in front of his home, patiently waiting. He showed Bart his train ticket, to where Bart plucked it out of his hand and put it in his pocket, unlocking the door, and letting Barry inside, where he helped him pack his things. Barry explained how there would be several stops along the way, as they were traveling through four states, and it would probably take a few days. Bart didn't mind, though.

x

Bart nervously stood at the platform with his grandfather, a luggage bag in each hand. Bart didn't have much to bring, except some clothes, one of his mother's paintings, and a few books his father wanted him to read. The train arrived, letting out a squealing sound and then a hiss as it stopped. The conductor looked out. " _All aboard!"_ he yelled after the train's current passengers left.

Barry looked at Bart, giving him a reassuring smile before they stepped inside.


	2. The Occurrences That Lead Up To Bart Allen's Speed (PT 2)

Bart looked out the window of the train as it began to exit the station. He could hear the wheels turning and the whistle blowing as it took off, and began to feel how fast it was going. He panicked a bit, never going this fast in his life.

"Calm down, we're only going around forty miles an hour." Barry wrapped an arm around his grandson, "Deep breaths."

"I've never gone this fast in my life!" Bart chuckled nervously.

"You should see some of the stuff Bruce's boys have built- much faster than this, I'll tell you."

"Bruce's boys?" Bart looked up at him.

"Ah, yes! I forgot to tell you about Bruce Wayne's sons. Well, adoptive sons. He has two adoptive sons, Tim Drake and Dick Grayson." Barry leaned in closer and whispered into Bart's ear. "The public isn't ready to hear about this yet, but they've made amazing machines. Machines that can go faster than a cheetah, machines that can fly like birds. Machines that are far more complex than this simple steam engine, I'll tell you that."

"Grandpa," Bart mumbled, "I don't know if I'll be smart enough to keep up with all of that stuff."

"Well, Bart, I don't plan on having you building mechanical machines anytime soon. I was thinking maybe you could be my laboratory assistant. We'll be working mostly with chemicals. Bruce is more so the one who runs the engineering aspect, and his sons like to build machines for reasons of curiosity and wanting to see how far they can push science."

"Right. Okay." Bart steadied his breathing and looked back outside. There were no longer any skyscrapers, but houses next to each other, along with the occasional store. Bart suddenly realized that in his entire sixteen years of life, he'd never left Chicago. After awhile, the houses then turned into trees and fields, with a farm here and there. There was a lady on the train who would occasionally ask them if they wanted anything to eat or drink, and Barry got a bag of peanuts, but that was it. Bart found himself dozing off, until the screeching of pulling into a train station suddenly awoke him again. For a second, he was confused as to where he was, when the memories came flooding back to him.

"It's our stop." Barry told him, standing up, grabbing his things. Bart grabbed his things as well, and they exited.

"When's our next train?" Bart yelled over the busy station so Barry could hear him.

"An hour and a half." Barry said, going up to a counter and purchasing two tickets for the next train. They sat on a bench by a tree, shielding them from the blazing sun. Bart's stomach growled. Barry handed him fifty cents. "There is a convenience store over there." he pointed, "Buy yourself a snack and drink."

Bart blinked at him for a moment before speaking. "By myself?"

"Is that a problem?" Barry asked.

"No… it's just going somewhere by myself that _isn't_ in Chicago is sort of anxiety inducing." Bart admitted.

"Well, before you'll know it, you'll be traveling the entire country by yourself." Barry told him, "This is your first. Now go."

Bart walked towards the convenience store, and a bell rang, alerting the cashier of his entrance. He looked through the options, and finally decided to get himself a root beer, a bag of a new brand of potato chips called _Chicken Whizees_ , and three gumballs which he put in his pocket. "Have a good day, sir." the cashier smiled before he left.

He returned to Barry, and opened the potato chip bag, beginning to eat. "Ah!" Barry said in delight as he realized what Bart had bought, "May I try some? I absolutely love potato chips."

Bart shrugged. "Sure."

According to Barry, potato chips reminded him of his childhood, and he told Bart stories of exactly that. Bart threw away the empty potato chip bag and root beer bottle before popping a piece of bubble gum in his mouth. Their tickets were punched and they boarded the next train.

And, as they continued to travel, Bart learned that Barry loved to talk. Barry claimed that all Allens loved to talk, and Bart didn't talk enough. So, Bart told Barry stuff about his life. How the 1876 case of pneumonia made him never want to make friends again, how he learned archery from Cissie, and memories from school in general.

Finally, it came time to arrive in New York City. Bart honestly had no idea what day it was by now, but from the blazing heat, he guessed it was somewhere in the middle of June. He and Barry exited the train, and a carriage that was sent to pick them up awaited. They got inside, and Bart looked out the carriage at the city surrounding him. It seemed so much larger than Chicago, the buildings much taller and mightier.

They arrived in front of STAR Labs, and Bart gasped in awe. The place was huge, its ceiling was a giant glass tinted dome, with the " _STAR Labs"_ sign standing tall in the giant yard that was in front of the building, complete with trees, streams, ponds with fountains in them, and deer grazing on the grass. A seemingly thirty feet tall fence was all around, protecting the building and yard, and two security guards stood in front of the gate that lead inside. The carriage pulled up to the gate, and Barry confirmed it was him, and the gates opened automatically to let them inside.

The carriage pulled up to the front doors of the building, and Bart and Barry got out, entering the building.

Again, Bart gasped.

They were on a balcony that showed a large, open space, and cogs of all shapes and sizes seemingly everywhere. Steam blew out of certain areas, and lots of workers were yelling at each other to try and communicate over all of the noise.

"Come." Barry said, leading Bart to an elevator. They got inside, and the door shut. "You see, much of STAR Labs is actually located underground." he said as the elevator started to descend, and Bart had to hold in his panic. It stopped, and the door opened, revealing the bottom half of the open room that Bart saw, and as they exited, he looked back up to the balcony they were just on, seemingly a hundred feet up in the air. Barry led them through a corridor to a smaller room. It was still very large, and the ceiling wasn't a glass dome, though it was high. The only windows in the room were close to the ceiling, because most of the room was underground.

"Valor, _stop!"_ a man screamed, and Bart cocked an eyebrow before screaming as a large bird came soaring after him, opening its beak and releasing some sort of gas. Bart coughed as he inhaled the gas, and his vision blurred in and out of focus, but he could see that it wasn't actually a bird that had attacked him- it was one of those machines Barry had mentioned.

Black spots splotched over Bart's vision, and he collapsed on the ground.

x

Bart woke up in a small room with a bed, cabinets, and washstand. A young man with black hair and blue eyes sat in a chair by his bed, looking down. Next to him was the cog-bird which attacked Bart. He screamed.

"N-no! Calm down! He won't hurt you." the man reassured.

"What in the hell is that thing?" Bart demanded, not taking his eyes off the machine.

"I call him Valor. I designed him to catch and disarm intruders who made it past STAR Labs' gates." the man explained, "He didn't recognize you, and thought you were an intruder, and proceeded to knock you out. He didn't know you were Barry's grandson. But, I programmed in him to let him know you're not an intruder, so he won't do it again. I apologize."

Bart still looked at the machine in fear. He then glanced over at Tim. "Are you one of Bruce's sons?"

"Yep! Timothy Drake, but I prefer to be called Tim. And your name is Bart, right?"

"Yeah."

The bird twitched somewhat, and Bart jumped. Tim laughed. "One of his cogs is slightly too big, so he'll occasionally 'hop' like that. Don't worry, it'll be fixed soon."

Bart got off of his bed and inspected the bird. "Can I touch him?" he asked. Tim nodded. Bart felt the wings, which were made of fabric. The entire bird had a wood frame surrounding it, though you could still see the cogs and pipes inside. As "eyes", the bird had two red-tinted magnifying glasses on either side of its head. Tim popped one of the eyes out of place and moved it around, showing how the eyes could turn at whatever angle needed for the machine to spot intruders. Valor also had two sets of talons, a pair of regular ones used for perching or flying, and a pair of sharp, knife-like ones used for battle. Depending on whichever one the bird needed, the cogs by his feet would exchange the talons and store the not-needed ones in his legs.

"Right here is the gas chamber." Tim pointed to the 'abdomen' of the bird, and Bart could see a small metal tank. "It travels up a tube and out his beak." Tim traced a finger following the tube, "And here's his motor. This is what allows him to work, essentially. Think of it as a heart." he pointed to the bird's chest, and then proceeded to grab the wood frame and pop it in half, exposing the inside of the bird more. "See this small, circular door right here?" he pointed to a place on the motor.

Bart nodded.

Tim opened the door, and inside was a small, black ball. "This ball is full of steam. It's what he runs on, what allows his cogs to turn. It kind of works like a light bulb. When the ball runs out of steam, I unscrew it, fill it back up, and screw it back in. It's something I have to do about once a week. I've been trying to figure out how to correctly program him to do it himself, but I'm sure it'll happen soon." Tim pointed to a steel dome near the top of the bird's head. "Speaking of programming. This is the equivalent to the brain. It's where all the programming takes place, so he knows who to attack, where to fly, and how much steam pressure to use." Tim shut the door of the motor and clicked the wooden frame back into place, making the bird whole again.

"Wow," Bart breathed, "that's a lot to take in. But it is really neat."

Tim was about to speak, but Barry entered the room. "Is Bart oka- ah, I see you're awake! I'm sorry for what Timothy's bird did to you. Not exactly a warm welcome."

"No, but everything's fine now." Bart informed. "He told me all about how it works."

"Excellent. Well, dinner is ready, both of you." Barry said, and began to leave. Tim and Bart followed, and Valor decided on his own to exit, his wings fluttering over Bart's head as he did, making Bart nearly jump again. He watched the bird soar across the room, perch and fold its wings on one of the windowsills, looking down at one of the entrances to the room. A table and large chandelier that Bart didn't see before entered the center of the large room, with what looked like could be an entire Thanksgiving meal on the table.

Two men were already sat down, presumably Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson, and Barry and Tim joined them. Bart sheepishly sat down at the last seat, and he winced as he saw who assumed Mr. Wayne's cold stare at him, not even smiling. However, Dick Grayson's bright blue eyes welcomed him warmly, and he let out a small smile at the brunet.

"So, you're Bartholomew Allen, Barry Allen's grandson." Mr. Wayne observed.

"Yes sir." Bart answered, too scared to tell Bruce that he went by Bart.

"And what field of science have you had experience in?"

Bart began to panic, "I, uh, um-"

"He has an eighth grade education, Bruce." Barry informed.

Both Bruce and his sons stared at Bart in shock. Bart's face felt like it was on fire. Dick recovered from his surprise first. "That's okay. You're not any less of a person because you never went to high school. How old are you, exactly?"

"Just turned sixteen." Bart managed to summon his wits and put turkey, lasagna, and croissants on his plate. Dick spoke as he did that.

"Oh. Well, I don't want to sound inconsiderate, but I assumed you'd grown up in a similar fashion to Barry. His being, uh, plentiful in money. What was it like… not being that?" Dick folded his fingers together.

"Ah, well, I never really considered myself _poor."_ Bart explained, "Sure, we didn't have a lot of money, but there was lots of disease that spread, and at school, it was a norm to only have one parent growing up. I still had my two parents. Lots of kids at school didn't know if they were going to be able to eat a meal when they came home, but I did. I knew my mom would always be home with dinner for me, even though it wasn't as nearly as delicious as this stuff looks." he examined the food on his plate.

"Don't hesitate, try it out." Barry told him, "The cooks here are only the finest in the North East region."

"If not the country." Bruce mumbled.

"Right. With that, let's eat." Barry concluded.

The meal was the best thing Bart had ever tasted in his entire life, and there was always more to get. If he needed something from the other side of the table, a mechanical part of the table would move the dish towards him. Like Tim's bird, it was quite neat.

During dinner, Tim and Dick talked about new things they were working on, Bruce and Barry discussed financial and economic things regarding their business, and Bart really didn't speak, but he didn't mind tuning in to listen to the conversations. It was like an entirely different world, and he got to see and hear it all.

Once they finished dinner, Bart's stomach hurt from eating so much- a thing he'd never experienced, ever.

"Dick. Tim. Go show Barry's grandson around the place, will you?" Mr. Wayne requested. The two men nodded, ushering Bart to join them as they got out of their seats. As he walked away, Bart watched the table be cleared by the servants as it lowered back into the ground, going under the floor.

Tim and Dick lead Bart through another door into a bigger room, though this one had a smaller glass dome ceiling, and there was lots of winged machines, most unfinished or being repaired, sitting around. Bart looked up and saw a balcony with stairs leading to it, and over the balcony one could look out into this giant room, much like the main room in the front of the building.

This room was much messier, however. Along with the unfinished contraptions, there were blueprints scattered everywhere, tools all over the floor, and a few electric lights dangling.

"This is where Tim and I like to work on our personal stuff. We build basically anything in here, but we're big on things that fly." Dick said, and led them over to one of the uncompleted flying machines. Much like Valor, the flying machine had a light wooden frame with visible gears and pipes inside. A propeller sat near the front, and large, bat-like fabric wings came out from each side of the machine. In the machine itself, it appeared that people would be able to sit in it. "I call it the _Nightwing_. It'll fly, and carry two passengers, and eventually have machine guns underneath the wings that can be used in battle."

" _Robin_ will be faster." Tim coughed.

" _Robin_ is smaller, and only carries one passenger." Dick pointed out.

" _Nightwing_ 's war expansion is unnecessary. What war are you preparing for?" Tim critiqued.

"Says the boy who built a bird that made Bart faint and has daggers for talons!" Dick exclaimed.

"Oh? But are you going to take out your large machine into the yard and shoot intruders with it?" Tim asked.

"I may have to, after your flimsy bird of ' _protection'_ is destroyed by flying into a tree branch!" Dick yelled.

Tim seemed offended by this, and was about to open his mouth when Bart asked, "Uh, guys?"

Tim shook his head. "Right. We're on a tour. Sorry." he apologized. Dick led them to a few more machines. Some were what they called _robots_ , and they were working on them so they could become personal servants. As in, doing things like fetching tools or a drink. Some machines replicated animals, and Dick showed a design of a wolf-like machine that was to be built if the deer population of STAR Labs' large yard ever accelerated beyond control. There were more bird-like machines, some used for spying instead of attacking, and others for fun. A long time ago, Tim had apparently built a mechanical family of ducks, and he watched them walk around and swim in the streams and ponds outside. Tim swore they were still somewhere out there, probably rusted out by this point.

They came across the flying machine Tim had mentioned earlier, the _Robin._ It looked similar to Dick's, but smaller, like Dick had mentioned. Bart couldn't tell that much of a difference on the surface, but he was sure there were a lot of mechanical differences.

After leaving the private lab, the young men lead him back to the main room where the workers were, showed him the furnace-room (where the people worked to power the laboratory) which was blazing hot, and sweaty men were using the assistance of machines to toss coal into the burners. There were twelve large assembly rooms for the STAR Labs products, where workers would also use machines to help put the products together. So, Bart concluded, in a way, STAR Labs was really a lab-factory hybrid. When he asked what kind of products were sold, he was shown them. Fans, lights, iceboxes, mechanical bikes, whatever they could make that got powered by electricity and/or steam, they sold it. Unless it was Tim or Dick's personal inventions, though.

They re-entered the balcony that Bart stood on when they first entered the building, and got back into the elevator that he and Barry were in, except this time, they had the elevator ascend onto a second balcony above the first. Bart looked at the top of the large glass dome that seemed very close by now. He was shown the inside of Bruce's office, as it had a large window that could look down into the factory. Next to it was Barry's office. Barry's lab was also shown, and a display of colorful chemical mixes could be seen inside. Then there was the control room after that, and of course, all four rooms couldn't be accessed by the average STAR Labs worker, and needed a pass code to get inside each. Bruce's office and control room were the most complex with twelve digits, however, Barry's rooms only had six.

They went back down to the room they had dinner in, which now had a visible couch, fireplace, rug, piano, and bookshelves. There were a few doors that led to extra bedrooms and Tim and Dick's private lab, but that was about it. Sometimes Dick and Tim would spend the night at the lab in one of the small rooms, but despite their differences in opinion of how machines should be built, they both agreed it was much better to rest at the private (and more importantly, quiet) manor in Gotham.

Dick and Tim both decided to go work on things in their lab, and invited Bart to come watch, but he declined, deciding to seek out Barry instead, as he nor Bruce were nowhere to be seen. He left the dining room and went up the elevator to the second balcony, about to pass Bruce's office, but then he overheard something.

" _You're seriously expecting me to trust a boy who hasn't even gone to high school running around in my lab?"_

"Our _lab._ My _father founded it, you help with the financial aspect. Hell, you even got Mr. West's old office!"_

" _That's besides the point. You want him to be your chemical assistant? Why do you trust him with such a thing? That's no job for a boy, that's a job for a trained professional. And there's plenty of those in New York City!"_

" _He lost both of his parents, and I assumed taking him in, we could obviously put him to good work. Anyways, how do these so-called 'trained professionals' even become professionals? By being trained, of course! I'll train him."_

" _Fine. Do that, but you have to understand my concern, Barry. And I swear, if he breaks anything too expensive, he's being booted right back out to the slums of Chicago!"_

Bart growled. Seriously, who did this Bruce Wayne guy even think he was?

_Entrepreneur, richest man in the country, successful business owner…_

Bart shook his head. Maybe he should have a talk with Mr. Wayne to prove he was trustworthy, but in a way, Mr. Wayne was right. In a big business like this, they could only have the best of the best around, not just some sixteen year old kid who had no idea what he was doing.

He leaned against the railing of the balcony, looking down at the rest of the building below. He let out a sigh. He could've been born in this lifestyle, raised a professional. He could've been best friends with Dick and Tim growing up, being right by their side as they competed to see who had the better flying machine. But instead, he was just a young Chicagoan man who ate mediocre dinners and couldn't manage to love women.

He heard Barry's footsteps tap off the steel floor of the balcony as he exited Bruce's office.

"Bart?"

"Yeah?" Bart asked, not turning around.

"Did you overhear that conversation?"

"Yep."

"Don't worry about it." Barry wrapped an arm around Bart's shoulder, and looked down below as well. "He's just nervous having you around because you're new. He'll warm up to you eventually."

"He's nervous because he's right." Bart mumbled, "I don't know what I'm doing. I don't know what I'm getting myself into."

"And I'll guide you through it, Bart." Barry reassured.

Bart was quiet for a few moments, "What was it like, growing up with Iris here?"

"Hmm, well, I was already nearly ten years old by the time the factory was completed. But after that, we sure had fun, running around, causing trouble. We drove our fathers crazy. And then God punished us by having our own children do the same." he laughed.

"Dad really never talked much about growing up here." Bart mentioned, and he wondered how many skills his father actually had when it came down to engineering, but never got to put them to use in Chicago because of how limited his life was after eloping with Meloni.

_He really did give up everything for love._

"Ah, well, he was a trouble maker. Wasn't too different from Tim and Drake when they were boys. Always wanting to invent, try new things, swore he was going to be the man who changed the world. The lab that is now Tim and Dick's was formerly Don and Dawn's, which was formerly mine and Iris's." Barry explained.

"How'd Bruce Wayne get into the picture?" Bart asked.

"Well, after my father died, I was the next in line. After Mr. West died, I needed to find somebody to replace him. Bruce Wayne was the one who offered to help along and the one who was accepted, so now he owns part of STAR Labs and Wayne Enterprises."

"And how'd he get his sons?"

"Boy, you are just filled with questions. Well, you see… Bruce _had_ three sons. The first was Dick. Bruce was at a circus, and Dick was a circus boy, apart of the Flying Graysons with his parents when he was just little. The wire his parents were on snapped, and they died right in front of everybody. Bruce decided to adopt Dick, as he related to the pain." Barry said.

"Related to the pain? What happened?" Bart cocked an eyebrow.

"Bruce's parents were shot and killed in front of him in an alleyway when he was just a little boy." Barry said solemnly.

"Really?" Bart asked in surprise.

"Really. Anyways, after he adopted Dick, a few years later, he came across a boy trying to steal parts from one of his machines. He decided to take the boy in as one of his own, and honestly, I didn't like him. Dick had a kind heart, and the new boy, Jason Todd, did not. He wasn't just a trouble maker. He'd purposely break things when he got upset- which was often. He'd steal. He'd manipulate. He wasn't a good kid. Eventually, everyone had enough of him. Bruce sent Jason off to boarding school, and a few weeks after he left, we'd gotten a letter saying that Jason had escaped and that he had left a letter claiming he was to become an outlaw in the west. They had an investigation and tried to find him, but nothing turned up." Barry ran a hand through his hair. "I'm going to have to ask you don't bring up Jason Todd. We don't talk about him."

Bart nodded. Barry continued. "And Tim, well, one of our employees was a dear friend of Bruce's. A single father, with one son. The father died, and Bruce took in the son, and that son was Tim."

"For somebody who seems so cold-hearted," Bart said, "he sure has a thing for caring for helpless kids."

"Yeah. I've always joked about wondering who the next one is. However, it's been eight years since Tim came into the family, so I don't think there'll be another one anytime soon."

"He doesn't have any biological children?" Bart asked.

Bruce smirked. "Not that he knows of."

Bart laughed, "I'd imagine a man with the amount of money of he has gets a lot of women."

Barry shook his head, "Nah. He's like you, in a way. He's not interested in being with women. Never courted. Never married. I don't think he's interested in being around people in general, much less in his bed. So, I suppose he doesn't have any non-adoptive children."

"Gentlemen." Bruce could be heard walking out of his office and towards them, and Bart jumped. "Dick, Tim, and I are to be heading back to the manor soon. Are you spending the night here, Barry?"

"No."

"Very well. Make sure the building is secure once you exit for the night." and Bruce entered the elevator.

"I never understand as to why the man has a home in Gotham," Barry mumbled, "It's the poor man's New York City."

"To each their own, I guess." Bart shrugged.

"I suppose so. Well, Barthol- Bart, I live in New York City, with my own private property. Iris is there, and I have my own dog, Flash. Yellow lab, loves to swim. Do you like dogs, Bart?"

Bart remembered his only interaction with a dog before, and it was being bitten by his neighbor's poodle. "Not exactly."

"Well, you'll like him." Barry insisted. He looked at his watch. "In fact, we should be closing up shop right about now." he said as he saw people begin to exit the building to leave work.

After about an hour, everything was secure, and Barry's carriage arrived to take him back to his home. Bart could see the roads were much better illuminated at night here than in Chicago, by both oil lamps and electric lights.

The carriage arrived in front of Barry's house, and Barry unlocked his gate, allowing the two in before shutting the creaky thing. They walked down a path towards the front of the house, not too unlike STAR Labs, and Bart could see fireflies winding through the trees of the yard.

Barry knocked on the door and called out for Iris, announcing he had Bart with him. Iris opened the door and cheerfully greeted the two, hugging bart before leading him inside of the brightly illuminated, high-ceiling, and very clean mansion. Their dog, who was asleep, suddenly woke up and ran towards Bart, and Bart stood still in fear as the lab sniffed him before laying back down.

"I had our cooks prepare chocolate chip cookies for you, Bart. The kitchen is that way." Iris pointed out, and Bart nodded. They walked into the kitchen, where Bart sat at a table. A waiter brought over a silver platter and a glass, then removed the lid, revealing the large stack of freshly baked cookies and poured milk in his glass. Iris and Barry sat down, and the cookies were moved to the center of the table, each of the elderly Allens getting their own glasses filled as well.

"I was so excited to meet you, Bart. Look at you, you're such a handsome man! You really take after your father." she grinned, then her smile dropped. "Bless his heart." She then smiled again and grabbed a cookie. "Surely, living in New York City, you shouldn't have any trouble finding a lovely lady to settle down with."

Bart shrugged, "Eh, maybe. I might not get married."

Barry almost choked on the cookie he had in his mouth. He let out a chuckle. "Surely you're gonna get married! You don't just _not_ get married in modern America, unless you're real poor."

Bart had to hold back his hiss, for a moment there, Barry reminded him of Don. "I just don't see the point in it right now. You two aren't going to pressure me into marrying a girl I don't love, right?"

A panicked look was in both of his grandparents' eyes. "No!" they both said, and then mumbled things about what happened with not allowing Don to marry Meloni was a mistake, and they learned and believed the core of marriage was true love.

"I was going to be married, but to a girl I didn't love. Not in a bride-groom way, anyways." Bart explained, "So for now, I just won't worry about it. My main focus is helping Barry with his lab." he smiled.

"Good, good." Iris said, "Let's get away from the subject of marriage. Let's not think too far ahead, let's stick to right now. Bart, tell me about your life growing up."

And so he repeated what he told Barry. How he was poor, but never considered himself to be. How he didn't like to make friends. (During this, Barry reassured him that Dick and Tim were to end up being very good friends with him.) About never leaving Chicago and how everything was so new to him. Iris also told him about her life; falling in love with Barry, and encouraging her father to keep going when he was a mining for gold, and moving all the way across the country to New York.

Eventually, Barry decided it was time everybody gets some sleep. Bart was given a room on the second floor, and he swore it was as big as his entire house back in Chicago. He got under the covers, watching as the light that poured underneath the gap between the door and floor of his bedroom went out.

Absolutely exhausted, Bart fell asleep as soon as he closed his eyes.


	3. The Occurrences That Lead Up To Bart Allen's Speed (PT 3)

Bart woke up the next day to the ringing of a bell, and a knock on his door. "Master Bartholomew?"

The first thing he took note of wasn't the voice, or the knock and ring. It was how comfortable the bed was. It was the best sleep he'd ever gotten, and he was so grateful.

"Huh?" Bart mumbled as his head lifted itself from the pillow once he realized someone was talking to him.

"It is seven a.m., Master Bartholomew. Breakfast is being served." the voice from the other side of the door said. At this point, Bart's head was cleared up enough to realize it was one of his grandparents' servants.

Bart pushed his sheets off and walked out the door, feet pattering on the hardwood as he headed down the loft and to the stairs. He entered the dining room, where Barry sat reading the paper, and Iris was smiling at him, eating her eggs and bacon. "There's my sleepy boy! How are you this morning?" she asked.

"Fine." Bart yawned, and a servant walked up to him.

"What would you like for breakfast, Master Bartholomew?"

"Uh… you can just call me Bart. And I'll have scrambled eggs and two pieces of toast, and coffee, too, I guess."

"How would you like your toast and coffee? How many eggs would you like? Would you like them to include any spices?" the servant asked.

Bart took a moment to absorb it all. "Coffee with sugar, and the toast with butter. Two eggs with salt and pepper." he yawned again as the servant walked away.

Barry looked up from his newspaper. "Ready for your first day of work?"

"Hmm?" Bart stared at him, eyelids still half closed. "First day of work?"

"You're going to be helping me in the lab today!" Barry laughed.

"Already?" Bart seemed surprised.

"Well, what did you expect, to just lay around the whole day?" Barry laughed again.

"N-no, I just-" Bart cut himself off, "I honestly didn't know what to expect."

Bart's food was set down on the table, and he began to eat.

"Iris, would you like to join us in going to STAR Labs today?" Barry asked.

"No," Iris shook her head, "I have a book club meeting in two hours. Tomorrow, though, I'd be very happy to come along."

"You should." Barry encouraged, "You should see some of the stuff Bruce's boys have been building."

"I don't doubt it'll make me filled with awe." Iris grinned, and Bart quickly finished up his breakfast.

"Bart, go shower and get dressed. The carriage will arrive in about thirty minutes." Barry told him. Bart did just that, and was already down the stairs and waiting for his grandfather after seventeen minutes. After another ten minutes, Barry walked over to the front door, chuckling something about being an old man and not being as fast as he used to be.

The carriage arrived and took them to STAR Labs, and they entered, heading straight up to Barry's chemical lab.

"Just curious," Bart asked as Barry began to put in the code for unlocking the door, "why do we even have a chemical lab here?"

"Because it's an interest of mine, and was an interest of my father's. I have a doctorates in chemistry. In fact, the whole reason STAR Labs was opened up in the first place was to be a chemical lab. However, the steam industry was the money-maker at the time, and it still is. That doesn't mean we can't make money off of chemistry. I'm actually paid by the federal government to… ' _experiment'_ with chemicals and elements, so-to-speak." Barry explained. They entered the room, and Barry opened a closet full of lab coats, safety glasses, surgical masks, and pairs of rubber gloves. "Grab one of each." he said.

Once they got done putting on their things, Barry pulled a pair of tongs out of a drawer, then opened up an icebox, cold air visibly pouring out of it. Using the tongs, he grabbed a glowing, green, crystal, and he placed it on a tray on a counter. It's glow pulsated like a heartbeat.

"Bart, close the icebox, won't you?" Barry requested. Bart did.

"What is it?" Bart asked as he looked at the gem.

"That's the thing," Barry said, "Nobody knows. It was found by a couple who owns a farm in Kansas."

"Looks like a living emerald." Bart observed.

"It does, doesn't it? Well, it isn't. Same color, sure, but it doesn't have the same properties of an emerald, much less any gem on Earth." Barry went to pull out a microscope.

"So you're saying it's alien?" Bart asked, looking away from the gem to find his uncle walking back with the microscope. He placed the microscope on the counter, and placed the crystal underneath it, before adjusting the microscope to get a clearer look.

"It's alien, alright. But nobody will believe me." Barry grumbled as he looked into the microscope, "I honestly feel like they didn't ask the couple enough questions. I feel like there's more to the story than just 'we found this gem'. Because if they just found that gem, well, this tiny little thing left a giant crater in the Earth, and with the estimated speed and density, it could've made a big impact, sure, but not one as big as the one that was made. Something bigger made the crater, and the gem came along with it. We don't know what kind of aroma this could be giving off, so that's why we're wearing surgical masks today."

"Who are they? Them being, the couple." Bart asked.

"John and Martha Kent, who reside in Smallville, Kansas. Newlyweds with a little boy." Barry said, then looked away from the microscope, "I've honestly been so puzzled by this crystal, it makes me want to go visit them and ask about it myself, even though they're halfway across the country."

"Maybe once Dick and Tim get their flying machines up and finished, they can fly there." Bart suggested.

"Nope. Their machines run on steam, and they'd have to have a huge and heavy supply to get all the way to Smallville. Unless they steal from train stations, which is illegal, and the last thing STAR Labs needs is to get into legal trouble." Barry explained, "Plus, there's no guarantee that there won't be some sort of malfunction with their machines traveling that far, and no promise that the Kents will even speak." He looked back and forth before speaking again, "Bart, may you grab that graduated cylinder for me?"

x

The rest of the day consisted of Bart and Barry trying to figure out what the green crystal was, but to no avail. Bruce's voice came from a pipe, informing them that dinner was ready. Barry dismissed Bart of his duties for the day, and both headed down to eat. Bruce, Tim, and Dick all sat down at the table, already eating, and Bart spotted Valor on the same windowsill as the day before. He stuck his tongue out at him, and the mechanical bird cocked its head, as if it were confused.

During dinner, everybody talked about their day's events, before finishing up. Bart watched as the table went back under the ground, and the couch, bookshelves, fireplace, and piano all ascended up from the floor.

Dick went to the lab to continue his work on figuring out how to give _Nightwing_ proper machine guns attachments, and Tim rolled his eyes. "I'm surprised he doesn't realize that machine guns would still require to be man-operated. Chain-guns at the sides of his machine could be automatically used, and would be far more suitable."

Bart just nodded, going along with it. He didn't know too much about guns, to say the least. Tim turned to him. "Do you want to see something nifty?"

"As if I haven't been for the past few days?" Bart joked.

"Come on, I'll show you." Tim urged. He brought Bart over to the grand piano, and began to play. Bart didn't get what was so special about it. "What you just heard was a piano." Tim said. Again, Bart nodded, still not getting it. "Now watch." Tim grinned. He went towards the back of the piano, and seemed to screw in some sort of set of pipes that were sticking out of the wall into the piano, and he began to play again.

The piano could be heard throughout the entire room, as if it were everywhere. "Go out to the main room!" Tim yelled. Bart did, and he could still hear the piano playing music out there. He laughed, running throughout the factory, every room he entered, he could still hear the piano play. He eventually ran back, out of breath. Tim finished up the song he was playing. "Neat, isn't it?"

"Yeah, it is! That's amazing. What is it?"

"We call them speakers. You see those holes in the wall?" Tim pointed out some circular holes in the wall of the room, "They're all throughout the building. The sound travels through them, so everyone inside can hear. Sometimes I'll play music for the workers here."

"Play more!" Bart exclaimed.

"Alright, alright." Tim laughed, going over to one of the bookshelves, and he pulled out an old leather binder, looking for sheet music to play.

Bart relaxed on the sofa as he heard Tim play, the elegant sound soothing him. He dozed off.

x

He woke up the next morning to complete silence. Sunlight poured in through the high windows, and Bart rubbed his head, wondering where everybody went. From the sunlight that was inside, he could see the silhouette of Valor on the windowsill, before his wings flapped and he flew off, flying up next to Bart, a piece of paper in his beak.

Bart took the paper, reading the message on it.

_Bart,_

_It appears you have fallen asleep, and I do not wish to disturb you. Therefore, you will be spending the night on this sofa, and Dick Grayson has agreed to stay in one of the rooms in case you need anything tomorrow morning. Bruce will arrive at six-thirty, and breakfast will be served at seven._

_With sincerity,_

_Barry_

Bart looked at the old grandfather clock by the door that lead to the main room. It was five-thirty, meaning he had another hour before Bruce arrived. His stomach growled. _And another hour and a half before I get to eat,_ he noted. He walked past the three small bedrooms, and could hear Dick's soft snoring behind the walls of the first. He smiled. He decided not to bother him, and went to the main room, his footsteps echoing as he entered. Valor flew out with him, and the bird spread his wings, flying out to the "core" in the room (a tall tree-trunk like stature, with a wooden frame and cogs inside, right below the center of the dome), and circling around it, before settling at the railing on the other side of the room. All was quiet as Bart walked, for not even the cogs turned, as it was only him and Dick inside the building. He went up the elevator, skipping past the first balcony in favor for the second, passing Bruce's office before stopping there. He looked inside, the sunshine that passed through the dome ceiling providing him aide.

There was a large, oak desk with a leather chair in the center of the room, and throughout the room, there were papers pinned to a wall, and papers spread across the desk, not too much unlike Dick and Tim's lab. There were lots of filing cabinets as well, and Bart was very curious, and wanted to look through them all, but knew he wouldn't be able to get inside. In the back of the room, two large french windows sat, with their blinds pulled back, giving Bart a view of the city before him. Carriages strolled down the street, and men walked as well, making their way towards work. A boy on a bike could be seen riding down the street, newspapers in hand.

"Beautiful city, isn't it?" Dick asked. Bart screamed in surprise, and it echoed across the room. He turned around, and Valor could be seen flying up to the railing they were on, trying to find out what the issue was. He popped out one of his magnifying glass eyes and rotated it up, directly on Bart. He then twitched from his over-sized cog.

"Jeez! I didn't mean to scare you, Bart." Dick apologized, "I thought you knew I was here. Sorry."

"No, I didn't." Bart said, "You scared me."

Dick grinned, "Well, besides all of that, I finished my machine last night. Well, not the arsenal portion of it, but it's ready for a test flight."

"Really?" Bart asked, "Can I see it?"

"Yeah, definitely. I wanted to take it out before too many people were awake, because then it'd be all over the news and Bruce hates it when the media bugs him." Dick explained as they began to head their way back to the private lab, Valor following.

Dick grabbed a helmet, fabric gloves, and goggles from his work table, putting them on. He went over to one of the empty walls of the room, and pulled a lever, and the wall split in half and opened, revealing the backyard of STAR Labs. It wasn't nearly as lumberful as the front, but rather, it was more of a large, open field. Dick put on his gloves and goggles, and strapped on his helmet, making his way towards the plane.

"Do you want to join me? There's another seat."

Bart stood for a moment, pondering the decision. The machine had never been flown before, so there was always a chance of crashing and dying, but at the same time, Bart was getting the chance to _fly._ How many humans have flown in their life before? None he could think of.

"Yeah. I'll join you."

"Neat. There's another helmet and pair of goggles on the worktable over there," Dick pointed to the direction the worktable was in. Bart quickly grabbed the items, putting them on, and Dick assisted him in climbing into the back seat of the machine, and strapped him in. Bart could feel his heart racing, and Dick got in the front seat. He strapped himself in, checked a few things, and then started the machine up. It roared to life, and the propeller began to spin, and the machine began to roll out of the room and into the outdoors. Dick began to ascend, and soon enough, they were high in the air, looking over the city of New York. Bart was amazed by the view, and he could see the faces of confused men looking up at them. Dick began to fly over the New York Harbor and towards Liberty Island, where the nearly-finished Statue of Liberty stood, a wood frame surrounding her. Her arm was just starting to extend out, to where it would end up holding a torch, and Bart wondered when she'd be finished. Dick circled around her head and began to fly back towards the city before making a descend for the STAR Labs' yard, and though he had some difficulty doing it, he managed to safely pull inside of the building.

"That was amazing!" Bart said as he unbuckled himself, jumped out, and removed his helmet and goggles. "Dick Grayson, you're the first man to ever fly!"

" _We're_ the first _men_ to ever fly." Dick corrected and chuckled as he got out and took his stuff off, "You came along with me. I can't say many people have that amount of bravery. We easily could've perished, had something gone wrong."

"But we didn't!" Bart said as he put the goggles and helmet back. Dick pulled the lever once again, closing the giant doors of the lab. They exited back towards the dining room, in which the living room was replaced by the dining room once again, and cooks could be heard stirring in the nearby kitchen, preparing breakfast. It was exactly 6:03 in the morning, and that meant Bruce and Tim were to arrive soon.

Dick and Bart decided to hang out in the private lab, and Dick taught him a few things about engineering. Bart knew the lessons he learned would more than likely leave his mind once he started working with Barry later in the day. Dick showed him the different tools and blueprints, and they discussed different ideas for machines as well. Tim arrived in the lab soon after, and Dick had his fifteen-minute long bragging session about how his machine flew first, and at first, Tim didn't believe a word he was saying. Even when Bart told him it was true, and that he was in the machine as well when it happened, he still had trouble believing. It wasn't until Valor squawked at him in confirmation did he believe it.

"How fast did you two go?" Tim asked.

"Thirty-seven miles an hour was the fastest we went." Dick told him, "I can take you out tomorrow morning if you'd like." Tim accepted the offer, but then spoke.

"Thirty-seven miles an hour. Not bad. However, _Robin_ should be going about _sixty,_ a third faster than _Nightwing."_

"Oh, I'm not done with _Nightwing."_ Dick reassured him, "I'll only make it faster, and I'll be adding machine guns, too."

" _Machine guns_ would be _defective_ in a battle unless you had a second passenger in the back!" Tim exclaimed, "Try _automatic chain guns."_

Bruce's voice was heard in the room. "Dick, Tim, Bartholomew. Breakfast is ready, come to the dining hall."

They entered, and Dick told Bruce about what happened. Despite his son being the first man to fly, Bruce didn't seem too impressed, which surprised Bart. _The man sure lacks expressing emotions_ , he noted.

After breakfast, the room was empty, to not be replaced with different furniture. Barry arrived, and he and Bart went up to the lab.

x

Today, they tried to figure out more about the unknown green gem, but to no avail. Instead, Barry decided that they handle liquids. He opened up the roof of the lab (which Bart didn't even know was an option) and there were lots of colorful vapor reactions as a result of the day.

Once Bart was dismissed from his duties that night, he told Dick and Tim about it at dinner. After dinner, Tim and Dick decided to spend the night at the Lab, and Bruce went home. Part of Bart wanted to stay with his friends, but he knew Iris wanted to see him again, so he went home with Barry. Iris, of course, happily greeted him, and a few hours before bed, she taught him a few card games as the Allen's yellow lab watched.

The next morning, they headed back out for the lab, bringing Iris with. The carriage was slightly crowded with the third person, but not too uncomfortable. They arrived, and Iris volunteered to help Barry at the lab, giving Bart time to spend time with Dick and Tim. When he entered the private lab, Tim was underneath his flying machine, working on it, and Dick was looking at some blueprints. "Bart!" he exclaimed once he saw him enter. "Come here. I want to show you something." Bart walked over, and he could see Valor handing tools to Tim with his beak as he worked on his flying machine. Bart looked at the blueprints on Dick's desk.

"Okay, so I kind of took Tim's advice when it came down to the gun aspect. I'm going to be building chain guns for my machine." he admitted. "Would you like to help?"

"I don't know how to build things." Bart said.

"Well, I can teach you throughout the process, and you can be my Valor." Dick pointed to the bird that was assisting Tim, and laughed. "Claims the bird is for protection purposes, goes and treats it like his pet."

Bart didn't comment. Dick spoke again. "Ready?"

Bart shrugged, "I guess so."

"You guess so?"

"I mean, yeah. I'm ready."

x

Helping Dick begin the process of building the machine guns really helped them bond. Bart told him about his life like he did with Barry and Iris, but it wasn't because he felt obligated to. He genuinely enjoyed conversing with the handsome man, telling him about his seven-year-long fear of making friends, but how he was glad he was friends with Dick. He talked about his cancelled marriage, forced courtship, and his schooling. Dick was happy to listen, and he talked about his life. He talked about his life before Bruce, when he was just a circus boy. He talked about how it took him a long time to warm up to Bruce, how he felt odd when he was introduced to STAR Labs, and mentioned what it was like meeting and bonding with Tim. Bart noticed he didn't speak of Jason.

Dinner time came around, more discussion happened, and Dick invited Bart back to the manor. Bruce was obviously irritated that Dick hadn't consulted him before inviting his friend, but otherwise, he didn't do anything. Of course, Bart accepted the offer.

The Wayne manor was old and creepy, and Bruce only had one servant, Alfred Pennyworth, who was just as old and creepy as the house, and who was definitely born in the previous century, Bart concluded.

All three showered and changed into night clothes, Bart's being borrowed. Like Bart did with Iris the previous night, the trio of young men played cards, drank some sodas, and had popcorn and candies, as if they were just boys again.

As Bart closed his eyes to sleep that night, he wondered why he was ever scared to make friends again.

x

The next few weeks consisted of Bart splitting his time spent with Barry, Iris, Tim, and Dick. In a similar fashion to Dick, Tim and Bart talked about life and bonded that way. Tim had also managed to get _Robin_ flying, and he was correct in saying the little machine went faster than Dick's. Bart was gaining some skill in the aspect of engineering as well, which made Barry very excited, and he told Bart he was just like his father. The comment bothered Bart, but he ignored it.

It was now July, and the lab seemed to be getting unbearably hot. The day that Dick and Bart were assembling the chain guns to _Nightwing,_ Dick decided to take off his shirt, and Bart could feel himself suddenly heating up even more, though like Barry's comment on him being like his father, he ignored it. He also ignored the aspect that neither Tim nor Dick had ever mentioned Jason. He was ignoring the fact that he was ignoring a lot of things.

They finished the assembly, and they high-fived at their work.

"Impressive." Tim said, walking up. "You going to test the guns out?"

"Definitely not in here." Dick said, "The last thing we want is a bullet puncturing a pipe."

"How about we try it out on an abandoned building?" Bart suggested.

"That'll have to wait." Dick said, looking at his watch, "Because Bruce is going to call for dinner in approximately three, two, one..."

"Dinner is ready." boomed through the speakers of the room. The three men laughed before making their way in the dining room.

x

The day had started out sunny, so Barry left the rooftop to his lab open. In the evening, after dinner, Dick and Bart left to go out to test the chain guns on _Nightwing._

They ended up partially collapsing an abandoned building as a result. To make things simple, the stray cats that resided inside were not very happy about it.

"At least we know it works." Bart mumbled as he hopped back in the machine before Dick took off.

x

"Bart, are you going to spend the night here?" Barry asked once he and Dick returned.

"Tim, Dick, and I are all spending the night here." Bart said.

"Okay. Can you close the roof of the lab for me before you go to bed?" Barry asked. Bart nodded. He had knew the pass code to get in- it was 654321. Barry told him it. Bart slapped himself in the face with how ridiculously stupid it was upon finding out.

Tim began to speak with him, and Bart forgot all about Barry's open roof, until he heard the roar of thunder outside, of course. "Barry's lab!" he exclaimed. Both Tim and Dick looked at him in confusion. "Barry's lab," Bart explained, "the rooftop on it is left open. We can't allow rain to get inside or lightning to strike in it, we don't know how the chemicals will react." he began to run off, out of the private lab, into the main room, up the elevator, and onto the second balcony. As he ran across the second balcony, he could see lightning flashing outside from the glass dome. He began to unlock Barry's lab, wincing as he saw the rain water begin to fill it. Chemicals that were to be used tomorrow sat in glass bottles on the counter with corks in them, and Bart ran to the wall that held the wheel for opening and closing the roof. As quickly as possible, he began to roll the roof back to being closed, but not before lightning struck down. For a second, all he could see is white, and next thing he knew he was on the floor, screaming in pain, so loud that he was sure it would have echoed across the entire building.

He saw himself bleeding, cut by glass, covered in chemicals, and the chemicals seeping into his wounds before he blacked out.


	4. The Occurrences That Lead Up To Bart Allen's Speed (PT 4)

Bart woke up the next morning with a throbbing headache and sore limbs all around. He groaned, looking at his surroundings. Everything around was completely black, except for the light that hung on the ceiling, shining directly down at him.

He called out, "Hello?" and he could hear his voice echo off the walls of wherever he was. Was he still at STAR Labs? He had no idea at this point. Looking at his arm, he saw needles stuck in it, and attached to the ends of the needles were skinny tubes that lead to some sort of machine. Bandages were wrapped all around his body, and he tried to get up, but was in too much pain to do such.

Suddenly, the light above him went out, leaving him in the pitch black. He began to panic, his migraine worsening along with his accelerating heartbeat. Then, all of the lights in the room flickered on, revealing that he wasn't in the factory. Hell, he actually had no idea where he was, and with the black, rocky walls, the entire place was still considerably dark.

He heard footsteps going down a metal staircase, and Alfred Pennyworth came into view, holding a lantern and glass of water in front of him. Bart screamed.

"Shut up, you stupid boy." Alfred grumbled, setting his lantern and glass on the tray next to Bart. He bent down, and began to pull a lever back, lifting the back end of bed Bart laid on top of, allowing him to sit up. He then removed the needles from Bart's arm, and handed Bart his glass of water. Bart, not realizing how thirsty he was, happily accepted the offer.

"Where am I? What happened?" Bart asked after gulping it down.

"The basement of the Wayne Manor, otherwise known as Master Bruce's brooding science room." Alfred informed him, "You were discovered by Master Tim and Master Dick in Master Barry's chemical lab, unconscious and injured. Master Dick braved the storm and flew you back here on his flying machine so you could receive medical help."

"Really?" Bart asked, "How long have I been unconscious for?"

"For about ten hours. It's early morning, and everyone else is at STAR Labs. The machine alerted me of your awakening, and I was surprised you didn't sleep longer, with how badly you were cut up." Alfred commented.

"I remember being cut and the chemicals spilling in my wounds, and it was burning real bad." Bart said.

"Oh, it was bad, Master Bart. Underneath your skin were splotches of every color of the rainbow, and it looked like lightning was traveling under your entire body. You had an unbelievably high fever, and were seemingly flying up that staircase to heaven. All of us thought you were going to die, except for Bruce. And he's the man who ended up stabilizing your condition."

"Huh." Bart noted, "I'll have to thank him."

"Thank him alright!" Alfred agreed, "He was the only one calm enough to extract most of the liquids that your body had in it without nicking a major artery. Of course, you still absorbed some of the liquids, but not a fatal amount."

"Do you have any idea what I absorbed?" Bart asked.

Alfred shook his head, "I do not, and neither does anyone else. Bruce knows what he's _extracted_ out of you, but what you absorbed is still unknown. Master Tim and Master Dick have volunteered to help clean up Master Barry's messy laboratory this morning, but they will return soon to visit you. And Dick has to repair his machine, of course."

"What happened to the machine?" Bart asked.

Alfred walked away for a moment, and came back with a squeaky, brass wheelchair. "You're not suitable for walking. I'll help you in, but don't you expect me to push you in it, boy, it is mechanical and you can operate it yourself."

After getting Bart in the wheelchair and showing him how to use the controls, Alfred began to lead him towards the _Nightwing._ The machine's right wing was broken, the outer half of it having a large rip and flopping itself over. The chain gun under the right wing hung loosely on the machine's frame. Part of the propeller in the front had been cracked off, a large pipe inside the frame was split open, and some cogs could be seen popped out of place.

"Luckily Master Dick was relatively close to the ground by the time his machine's wing was struck by lightning." Alfred chuckled, and Bart wheeled himself to the broken wing. He could see the charred black fabric of where the lightning struck exactly, and he shuddered, only imagining how terrifying that situation was for Dick- having his unconscious, dying friend in the back seat while trying to weave as quickly as possible and land safely through the deadly storm.

"What would you like for breakfast, Master Bart?" Alfred's question pulled him out of his thoughts.

Bart took a deep breath. "Just some oats in milk would be fine."

x

Despite the entire manor being dark, the kitchen was very sunny that morning, and the storm that happened last night left a bold rainbow that could be seen outside the windows.

Bart finished his oats.

"So, how am I going to get to STAR?" he asked as Alfred put his bowl in the mechanical dishwasher.

Alfred laughed. "You're not going today. You can't even walk, boy!"

"So what am I supposed to do all day?"

"Go home and rest, that's what." Alfred informed, "A carriage should be picking you up in about fifteen minutes."

Bart sighed.

_Great._

x

Bart needed some assistance from both the coachman and Alfred to get into the carriage, and then the help from the Allens' servants to get back out and in his bedroom, but he finally got to relax and fall asleep.

When Bart woke up, his bedroom door was open, and the Allen's yellow lab, Flash, was curled up next to him. Bart smiled, and the dog opened his eyes. He sniffed Bart's face for a second before giving a lick to his nose and laying his head back down.

 _Okay,_ Bart thought, _I like dogs._

He dozed off again.

He woke up again a few hours later, guessing that by now it was around three p.m. The dog was gone and his door was closed, but there was a knocking before the door opened. It was Dick and Tim. Bart's eyes lit up at the entrance of his friends.

"How're you?" Tim asked as the two black haired men sat at the end of his bed.

"Really have to use the lavatory. It's right over there." Bart mumbled and pointed to an old door in the room. Dick and Tim looked at each other.

Tim spoke. " I'm sure we could help if you needed… or we could get a servant."

"No, Tim, come on. Let's help our friend out." Dick playfully hit his brother, "It's what friends are for."

"I can walk, I just need help getting up." Bart reassured.

"Alright. I'll take his right. You take his left." Dick instructed Tim. They did such, slinging Bart's arms over their shoulders, and sat him up. Bart moaned in pain, still sore from the accident. They then helped him stand on the floor, and Bart managed to stand on his own, though still had trouble walking by himself.

"'Do it myself', uh-huh. You're a fool for thinking you could, Bart." Dick admitted as they led him towards the lavatory. Bart just scowled at him. Giving him some privacy to use it, Tim and Dick waited in the bedroom and talked about process that would go into repairing _Nightwing._

"I'm really sorry about what happened to your machine, Dick." Bart apologized once he was finally out and laying back down.

"Don't worry about it." Dick said, "It can all be fixed. It'll take a bit, but it was still worth the damage it got. A life has, and always will, hold more value over a machine."

"Thank you, really." Bart said, "For braving that storm like a soldier to take me back to the manor. You could've died."

Dick shrugged. "It was just my duty as a friend."

"And Bruce," Bart continued, "Where is he? Alfred told me he was the one who ended up saving my life, and I have to thank him."

"He's at STAR right now." Tim informed, "You can thank him when you're all better. He's a patient man."

Bart nodded, and Tim and Dick spent a few more minutes talking to him before leaving. Bart's dressings were changed and he was served dinner in bed. Flash decided to enter the room, begging for food, and Bart caved in a little, giving him a bit of turkey. After dinner, Flash stuck around, and Bart stroked the lab's soft fur, feeling his soft, velvety ears with each stroke to the head. Barry and Iris visited him and played cards with him for some time and then headed off to bed.

Eventually, after reading some of one of his father's old books, Bart fell asleep.

x

He woke up early the morning feeling extremely well and energetic, despite having to pee very badly and being very hungry- which was odd, because he had a rather large dinner last night.

He got up by himself, not feeling sore at all, and sped to the bathroom, then went downstairs and checked the time. It was four-thirty, and nobody was cooking food yet. He swore his stomach was angry with how much it was growling.

He looked in the kitchen, finding some canned foods to eat in the pantry, and he ended up going through four cans of beans within ten minutes before his stomach was satisfied. He wondered why he was so terribly hungry, and then looked back down at his dressings. Slowly, he unwrapped one on his arm off, and was confused to find that there was a minimal amount of blood on the inside and virtually no cut. He pulled up his shirt and unwrapped another one. Again, small amount of blood, and no wound, and no scar to be seen. He then continued the process throughout his entire body, and with each dressing he discarded, no cut appeared. His body looked like it had never even gone through the trauma that it did.

He pinched himself, coming to the conclusion that it was probably a dream. He didn't wake up.

He threw away the beans and dressings, and wondered what to do now. He sped over to the dining room, pulling out a chair and sitting down, tapping his foot on the floor, feeling jittery and restless. A minute passed, and he looked down, seeing his foot had partially left a depression in the floorboard. He gasped, and looked around, before abandoning the area altogether, hoping nobody would notice. Jeez, was he tapping _that_ hard?

With nothing else in mind, he decided to go into town. He actually never really got a chance to explore New York City himself, he'd been in parts of it on the occasion, but never the actual thing as a whole. He left a note on a napkin for Barry and Iris, and headed out, opening the gate of the property with the key that Barry had given him and then closing it.

He had an extreme urge to run, so he did. He ran for the center of the city, and got there surprisingly fast, within a few minutes, and he didn't even feel out of breath. He looked at the shops and restaurants around him and sat down on a bench, simply observing the city, similar to when he did from Bruce's office window, except this time he was up close. By now was only five-thirty, so very few men did walk the streets, and most shops were closed, but Bart strolled through the city, looking inside each building. He came across a park and saw an old couple walking a small, white dog. He decided to jog around the city, watching the electric lights that were on for the night flicker off for the day. He saw as more and more people began to flicker their house lights on and open their blinds, letting in the sunshine. The streets began to get busier, and after Bart was satisfied that he'd seen pretty much the entire city, he decided to head back, running so fast that once he exited the concrete, dirt was being kicked up beneath him. He arrived back to the Allen's place, grabbing his key and going back inside the property and then the house.

It was 6:33, and he could hear the stirring of cooks in the kitchen along with some noise upstairs. Bart decided to use the time to bathe and pee again, for his bladder somehow filled up very quickly.

By the time he was done getting dressed in new clothes, he was painfully hungry again. He checked the time. 6:46. Grumbling in frustration, he headed down towards the kitchen, where he saw his note still laying on the counter. He grabbed the napkin and threw it away, as it was no longer needed.

At 6:50, Bart could hear Iris calling his name with a tone of concern in her voice. "I'm down here!" he shouted, and she entered the loft, looking down into the dining room, and let out a sigh of relief. Quickly, she made her way down, asking him how he got down there. Bart said he woke up feeling great, removed his dressings himself, and got ready for breakfast quickly. He also mentioned that he had no visible wounds, though didn't mention his trip to the city.

A perplexed look went across Iris's face, "What do you mean you don't have any wounds?"

"They've all just disappeared. Look." Bart lifted up his shirt, "I had wounds here, here, here, here, and here." he pointed to different areas, "Everything's gone."

"Well isn't that just the darndest thing." Iris commented, "God must really have a liking for you."

Bart shrugged. Barry made his way down the stairs.

"Barry!" Iris called, "Come look at this."

"What is it?" Barry asked as he sat down.

"Bart's wounds. They're all gone, there isn't a scar to be seen." Iris said. Bart showed him.

Barry was just as confused as Iris, and somewhat concerned. "That doesn't make any sense."

"It's a miracle." Iris insisted.

"Could it be some of the stuff I absorbed that helped me heal quickly?" Bart suggested.

Barry shrugged, "Maybe."

Nobody else knew what to say about the matter, so they began to eat breakfast.

x

"Bart, can you hand me the measuring cup?" Barry requested. He then gasped, almost dropping the glass in his hand as Bart seemingly appeared out of nowhere in front of him with the measuring cup in hand.

"That was fast." Barry chuckled as he calmed down.

Bart cocked an eyebrow in confusion. "Huh?"

Barry shook his head. "Nothing." he continued, "Now, Bart, cyanide is something that must be handled with care."

x

"So you're just, all okay now?" Dick asked as he and Bart entered the Wayne Manor's dark basement.

"Yeah." Bart said.

"Whatever, that's just fine with me. Come on and see how much I've fixed." Dick headed to _Nightwing_ , in where the propeller had been replaced and the damaged wing was removed.

He and Bart decided to spend their time on repairing the loose chain gun and putting it back into place, talking about other things during the time. For the first time, Dick decided to mention Jason. Though it wasn't exactly a happy story, Bart was finally glad that Dick had trusted him enough to open up about it.

Bart found himself beginning to like the man even more, but in some sort of strange way, in a way that he somehow knew Dick didn't feel.

 _Just a case of odd infatuation_ , Bart assumed.

x

Bart, Tim, and Dick all decided to skip the lab the next day and take a day off to go into the city. They ate breakfast at a restaurant, Bart finishing his meal within two minutes. They spent time playing games of disc with one another at the park, and one of Bart's throws ended up being so quick that Tim didn't have time to react and he ended up getting a nasty bruise on his forehead. They bought Tim a cap from a small shop to hide it.

After a few more hours, they decided to head back to the manor, and Dick suggested the idea of a race back. Bart easily passed the two and won.

Both of the other men asked Bart how he went so fast, and Bart told him he didn't know. They soon forgot about it, all three finally working together for once on repairing _Nightwing._ It was finished by the end of the night.

Bart spent the night there, and was the first one up the next morning, except for Alfred. When he asked Alfred when he slept, Alfred replied that he didn't. Bart didn't have trouble believing it.

Bart was finished with breakfast by the time Tim, Dick, and Bruce came downstairs for theirs. Bart announced he was going to head back to the Allens' mansion.

"Would you like for me to arrange a carriage for you, Master Bart?" Alfred asked.

"No," Bart shook his head, "I'm just gonna head back myself."

"Are you sure, Master Bart? It's an entire city over." Alfred reminded him.

"Yeah, I'm sure. I'll be fine." Bart replied, and said goodbye to Dick and Tim before heading out the door. The gates opened for him, and he began to run.

He arrived at the Allen mansion within nine minutes.

 _How fast can I really go?_ Bart asked himself as he walked through the door.

x

"Dick, I think I'm the fastest man in the world." Bart admitted, and Dick looked up from his blueprints for his next project. Bart didn't look him in the eye, he just looked over to Tim, who was programming something in Valor.

"What do you mean?" Dick asked.

"I can run really fast." Bart told him.

"Yeah?" Dick asked, still in doubt. "How fast?"

"I'm not sure." Bart admitted and he could feel himself blushing, "It's just when I was running back to the Allens' today, I got back within nine minutes."

"Oh? Couldn't one of their clocks have been off?" Dick suggested.

"I don't know." Bart said, "I can show you, though. I feel like I haven't even ran as fast as I could possibly run."

"Hmm," Dick said, he then leaned in close. "Alright, Bart. I'll believe you. I have an idea. Early tomorrow morning, when the streets of New York City are relatively empty, I'll take you to the main road. I'll have a stopwatch, and we'll see how long it takes you to run from the start to the end. Deal?" he stuck out his hand.

Bart shook it.

"Deal."

x

The sun was just barely beginning to rise as they made their way towards the main road in New York City. It was a straight road, about a mile long. Dick stood on the opposite end of Bart, and Bart waited for the signal for him to start running.

He heard the whistle.

Bart took off as fast as he could, accelerating faster and faster as he went, pushing himself as fast as he could go, before realizing he was already at the finish and was headed right for a building. He came to a sudden halt, but wasn't able to stop in time, and tripped over himself, landing directly on the concrete. He moaned in pain, and his feet felt like they were on fire.

He looked at his shoes- they were completely burned through and smoking, and behind him, there was a small trail of fire, and shattered glass all over the road.

He looked up, and could see the stares of many confused people looking out their destroyed windows, directly at him. He heard their voices.

" _What in the name of God is going on?"_

" _Who_ is _that man?"_

" _What just happened?"_

He looked over to Dick, who was lying on the ground in shock, barely getting himself up. Bart ran over to him, wincing at the pain in his feet. His whistle and stopwatch were several feet away, his stopwatch's lens shattered. Bart helped him get up, and Dick shook his head.

"We should get out of here." he said.

"And go where?" Bart asked.

"Anywhere!" Dick yelled, and looked back and forth before spotting people begin to exit their apartment homes and walk towards them. "To the manor." he whispered, "Run."

"What about you?" Bart asked, concern in his voice.

"Don't worry. I'm good at disappearing. Now go."

Bart did just that, and took off.

He patiently waited for Dick by the gates of the manor, and Dick arrived after about thirty minutes.

"Bart," he said once he was finally close enough and opened the gates as they began to walk inside, "You were at the finish line in less than a second. You were going so fast that you shattered every window, and ended up knocking me over, and breaking my stopwatch." Dick sighed, "I just don't get it." he said once he opened the door, "It's impossible for a human to run that fast. You-" he sighed again, "-you ran so fast, that you caused so much friction, you sent the road afire. And your shoes are gone."

"Huh?" Bart looked down at his feet and realized Dick was right. His feet didn't hurt anymore, though.

"Too many people saw what happened. Or at least, the aftermath of it." Dick mumbled, and they sat down in the kitchen. He buried his face in his hands.

"Everything will be fine. Everything happened so fast. They couldn't see me long enough to figure out who I was." Bart assured.

"Maybe." Dick said, "But as far as I know, I'm the only one you've told about running fast?"

"Yeah. Except I did tell Iris and Barry about my super fast healing- did I even tell you about that? All of my cuts were healed and there wasn't even a scar left. But you're the only one I've told about running fast."

"Alright, alright. Don't tell anybody else until we can get this further figured out, okay?" Dick requested.

Bart simply nodded.

x

Bart spent the rest of the day and the day after that relatively normally. His story was all over the newspapers, and Barry mentioned how it was interesting and grumbled about how it was probably something tied to the Thawnes. Today, however, Dawn and her family were returning from their two month long vacation in the Caribbean today, and the family all agreed to head out to the city for lunch.

Bart got to know Dawn, Jeven, and Jenni a bit better. Dawn and Jeven were relatively nice, but Jenni was somewhat bossy, and she was getting bored in the restaurant. Barry asked if Bart could take Jenni to the park, and though he really didn't want to, he did.

They began to walk out, and the twelve year old girl began to rant about how she hated _"smelly ol' New York City"_ and wanted to return to the Caribbean as soon as possible.

As they approached a park, a woman screamed and pointed. "That's him! That's the man who set the main road afire!"

Bart felt his heart drop into his stomach. He saw the stares settling onto him, not unlike two days ago. Jenni gave him a perplexed look. Bart tried to laugh it off and said, "What?"

A man's voice said, "Hey, yeah, that is him!"

Bart continued to chuckle, "I have no idea what you're-"

"Bart, what's going on?" Jenni demanded. Bart began to panic as he felt the people begin to talk more, and nearby police officers begin to approach him.

"Jenni, can you head back to the restaurant for me?" Bart asked politely.

"Tell me what's going on." she crossed her arms over her chest, refusing to leave.

"Jenni, _not now."_ Bart grumbled. He then turned to the officers as they came up, "Hello, officers! Whatever is happening right now, I can assure you is false accusation." he let out a nervous grin.

The chatter increased, more fingers pointed, and Bart wanted nothing more than to just disappear. People from the street got curious and joined the crowd.

" _He's a dangerous man!"_

" _A male witch; a warlock!"_

" _The man's not human, I say! He's not from this Earth!"_

" _He's a demon sent straight from hell! Perhaps Satan himself!"_

The two officers looked at each other before nodding. Bart yelped as he was suddenly tackled to the screamed, and a third officer came up to try and escort Jenni away, but he kicked him in the shin. She began to kick the two officers as well, calling them wild animals and that they needed to be put in a zoo, and demanded for them to let go of her cousin. Bart felt himself be handcuffed and they finally got back up, bringing Bart up with them, shoving Jenni away, and she screamed as the third officer took her away.

Bart couldn't tell how fast his heart was beating. He was panicking, and all seemed to be going in slow motion around him. He felt himself begin to vibrate faster and faster, until he noticed he had vibrated out of his handcuffs- and his clothes.

He ran off to the Allen mansion, and arrived within a minute. He vibrated right through the fence and right through the front door. He ran upstairs, slamming his door shut, and quickly putting on clothes.

A knock was heard at the door. Bart opened it. A very scared and confused servant was standing on the other side.

"Master Bart, how'd you get inside?"

"Don't ask. I've gotta run." was all Bart said before taking off for STAR Labs.


	5. The Tale Of The Outlaws (PT 1)

**The Tale Of The Outlaws**

Bart used his speed to scale STAR's fence, and ran into the building, down the stairs, into the dining hall, and into the private lab within a matter of two seconds.

" _Dick! Tim!"_ he called.

Both men looked up from their projects, confused looks on their faces.

"Bart? What are you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be spending time with your family?" Tim asked.

"I'm in big trouble." Bart said, and he suddenly sped up to them. Tim's jaw dropped, and Dick bit his lip.

Tim began to speak. "What just-"

"Bart has super speed." Dick explained, and he told the story of when Bart set the main road afire. Bart mentioned getting faster as the days passed, and how he healed completely from his accident within two days.

"And you never thought to tell me about it?" Tim asked, betrayal in his voice. "I thought we were friends, Bart!"

"We weren't sure what was happening, so I told Bart to keep his mouth shut until we could figure something out." Dick came to Bart's defense, "If you want to be mad at anybody, be mad at me."

Tim didn't speak. He just looked down at the ground.

Dick looked at Bart. "What happened? Why are you in trouble?"

"IwasoutwithmyfamilyatdinnerandJenniwasbeingallmoodysotheyhadmetakehertotheparkandsomebodyrecognizedmeandnextthingIknewpeoplewereshoutingandIwasbeingattackedbythepoliceandbeingarrestedsoIsomehowmanagedtovibrateoutofmycuffsandmyclothessoIwentbacktotheAllenmansiontochangeandnowI'mhere."

Dick and Tim both stared at him for a few moments, occasionally blinking. Dick spoke. "Say that again?"

Bart sighed, taking a deep breath. He repeated himself more slowly, "I was out with my family at dinner, and Jenni was being all moody, so they had me take her to the park. Somebody recognized me, and next thing I knew, people were shouting, and I was being attacked by the police, and then being arrested. So, I somehow managed to vibrate out of my cuffs and my clothes, so I went back to the Allen mansion to change and now I'm here."

"So basically meaning, people can recognize you." Tim noted. "Probably know your name by now, too."

Dick, on the other hand, was trying to hold back a fit of laughter. " _Vibrating out of clothes…"_ he mumbled as he stifled his chuckles back. Tim rolled his eyes, but then began to think of what they could do.

"Alright! I'm serious now. Okay, okay." Dick announced, catching his breath. "I'll tell you what- Tim and I will go see what's going on with your family. You stay here for-"

"Dick, Tim, is Bartholomew there?" Bruce's voice came over the speaker.

Dick walked over to a button on the wall and spoke. "Yeah, he's here."

"Send him to my office. _Now."_

Bart felt a shiver go down his spine and his blood go cold. Dick shrugged. "Guess you gotta go."

Bart was up there within a matter of a second yet again. He knocked on Bruce's door. Bruce looked up, surprised Bart arrived so quickly. He pressed a button on his desk and the door opened. Bart entered.

"So, I received a call from Barry, and he told me that this is happening. His niece told him this story by the way." Bruce repeated the situation of what happened, and apparently Jenni had told the police officers that the man who was being arrested and suddenly disappeared, leaving his handcuffs and clothes behind, was her cousin, Bart Allen, and that's all she knew. Bruce brought up the main road incident, and Bart confirmed it was him who ended up setting the road afire. "Anyways, Barry called his home and the servants confirmed you were there, but ran off. So he called me to find out if you were here."

Bruce rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Why didn't you tell anybody about this, and how in the hell are you so fast?"

"It's the accident from the chemical lab. The one you ended up saving my life from," Bart explained, and then he gave Bruce the full story like he did with Tim. Bruce seemed genuinely upset that Dick hadn't told him anything.

Bruce almost seemed overwhelmed by all that was happening, the only emotion he had ever expressed. He looked at Bart straight in the eyes. "I'm not angry with you, Bart. But I have to tell you the blatant truth. The general public is still indoctrinated in religion, still in fear of God. They believe your capabilities are due to being a demon, a Satanic spawn, not because of science. Despite being to summon up any lawyer I could ever want, it doesn't matter. The second they find you, they'll put you on trial, and you'll be tried for witchcraft. You will lose the case, and you will be executed- I've seen it happen before- if they can manage to pull that off without you healing too quickly or escaping, that is." Bruce sighed again, "And the entire thing, it'll be a country-wide epidemic. Newspapers, photos, posters, anywhere and everywhere. ' _The grandson of Barry Allen is actually a warlock! How do we not know STAR Labs is not a result of witchcraft? What's the truth?_ ' Do you see what I'm getting at, Bart?"

"I'm sorry." Bart apologized, looking down. "I've ruined everything for everyone. So now I'm going to die, and your and Barry's business will forever be damaged."

"Not exactly." Bruce said, "Barry and I will suffer some damage, yes. But I believe we can recover, as for you, well, come with me." Bart stood up and Bruce guided him to one of his walls, where a large map of the United States was shown.

"These are all states." he pointed to the outlined shapes in the eastern side, "However… this is the west. The west has yet to be fully claimed. It consists of territories, open land, and much of it is still occupied by Native American tribes. There isn't as much government there." he turned to Bart, "If you want to live, Bart, this is your hiding place."

Bart looked at the map for a moment before there was a loud knocking on the door, and both Bruce and Bart snapped their heads towards the direction of the noise. Barry was on the other side, and continued to loudly bang. Bruce let him in.

"I'm not sure what the hell is happening," Barry gasped for air, "But the police are going to be arriving in just a few minutes to get after Bart. I'm not sure what to do, this can't be good."

"Bart. Go downstairs and say your goodbyes to Tim and Dick. I'll explain everything." Bruce promised. Bart nodded, and was about to head downstairs then stopped to quickly hug his grandfather.

"Goodbye, Barry. I love you. I'll always be grateful for you taking me in. Thanks for thinking of me." he told him, and then looked up at Bruce. It suddenly hit him. "And thanks for saving my life, Bruce. And goodbye. We never really knew each other, but I'll never forget you."

"It was a pleasure knowing you, Bart." Bruce nodded before Bart began to turn around. "And Bart?"

Bart's head snapped into the direction of Bruce.

"You left an indent in my floor."

Bart looked over to where he was sitting a few minutes ago, and saw that he had, in fact, left an indent in Barry's hardwood, not unlike when he did at the Allen mansion. He blushed. "Ah- uh, sorry."

Barry seemed to be lagging behind. "Wait, ' _goodbye'?_ Why's he saying goodbye?"

But by the time Barry uttered the question, Bart was already back at the private lab.

"Dick, Tim. I'm leaving. I have to run out west. The police are coming. I'll be tried for witchcraft and executed if I stay."

Tim and Dick looked at each other for a moment before nodding at each other, and they gave Bart a group hug.

"We understand," Dick said, "we've seen stuff like that before."

They separated, and Tim turned to Bart. "Take Valor with you."

"Huh? Why?" Bart asked.

"I've recently programmed it in him so he can refill both his gas chamber and his steam ball on his own. The west is untamed, wild. We don't know what's out there. He can protect you. He doesn't need to be sitting around as my pet. It's finally time to use him for what he was built for." Tim explained.

The bird flew over, and hovered over Bart. Bart extended his arms out, and Valor descended into them. Bart held him securely.

"Now go, Bart." Dick encouraged as he put a compass in Bart's palm. "Run."

Bart nodded. "Thank you, both of you. For being my friends."

And with that, he took off, speeding past the carriages of the police force as he left the property of STAR Labs.

x

As Bart ran with the bird in his arm, he couldn't help but have a similar feeling to what the train was like when he first was coming to New York. He had never gone that fast in his life, but now he was running probably seven or eight times the train's speed. Barry was right. What he'd seen at STAR was much more complex than the simple steam engine.

After two hours, Bart began to get hungry again. He looked around. He was in a small town, in which state he didn't know. He looked for a convenience store, and spotted one right away.

Oh, he didn't want to do this. But he had to for the sake of not starving to death. "Valor," he said, and the bird twitched his head. "There's intruders inside that store. Can you find them and knock them out for me?"

The bird took off, breaking a window. A few screams were heard temporarily before the people inside fell victim to the gas. Bart waited a minute, then ran inside, quickly binging on and gulping down anything he could find. He took some items for being on the run, stuffing them inside a bag that he stole from a lady, and then used the store's lavatory before running again.

Then, he stopped after three and a half hours of running, resting under a tree on a hill, watching the sun begin to set as he ate and drank the rest of his items.

He did another two hour long run. It was now dark out, and he luckily managed to spot an old farm because it had a single electric light in front of the barn. Bart stopped at the farm, and saw nearby crops nearly ready to be harvested. He ate the premature crops, which were all hard, small, and bitter, but they were food. He drank water from the nearby stream to wash it down.

Deciding to call it a night, he pushed the doors of the barn open ever so slightly, and they groaned loudly as they opened. Bart and Valor made their way inside, and Bart fell asleep on a bail of hay.

x

Bart woke up the next morning to an unconscious teenage girl lying on the barn floor. He screamed, and a man with a straw hat came running in, shotgun in hand. His eyes narrowed, " _Who the hell are you, and what the hell have you done with my daughter?!"_ he demanded.

Bart, in shock and not knowing what to do, just stood there. Valor came soaring down from off a beam in the barn, his sharp talons digging into the farmer's shoulders. The farmer cried out in pain, firing his shotgun, and watched in shock as Bart dodged the bullet and it lodged itself directly into a thick board that was behind him.

Valor let go of the farmer, and he fell to the floor, gasping in pain. Valor's sharp, bloody talons exchanged for normal ones, and Bart grabbed the bird out the air before running off.

"You knocked out the girl with gas, didn't you?" he asked as he ran.

Of course, the bird didn't respond.

x

The next few days consisted of Bart continuing to run and take food from farms, convenience stores, or regular homes. He was usually quick enough to just run in and out, not needing Valor's assistance.

Valor stopped once to refill his steam ball at a train station. Bart found that funny, because he remembered Barry told him it was against the law, and Tim had essentially programmed his bird to do something illegal, even if that wasn't the original intention.

Soon, everything just seemed to become empty, open spaces, like Bruce had said. Some were sandy cliffs, some grass fields, but the sky was always blue, and it looked relatively uninhabited, and Bart knew he had arrived.

What day was it? Somewhere in July, he knew, but that was about it. He finally decided to slow down once he got to a small town, and wondered where he could find food and water. He hid behind a stack of barrels, deciding where to make his move. A saloon there, a windmill there, a motel there, a train station there… aha! A restaurant. He sped into the kitchen, when he unexpectedly ran into a heavyset man carrying a cleaver. He fell backwards, and the man stumbled a bit.

"What the fuck?" the butcher mumbled. He glared at Bart, "Goddammit, are you one-a Joseph's kids? Look at ya, you're filthy, and practically a full grown man. Sheesh, you're a twig, too. He should really keep track of you all."

Instead of running away, Bart played along. "Ah… yep. I am. I'm Joseph's son. Sorry. I'm just hungry and looking for food."

"Alright," the butcher said, "I'll tell you what- use the bath upstairs, I can have Brandy leave some clean clothes for ya, and by the time you get back down here, I'll have some stew for ya."

"Okay, okay." Bart said, not wanting to miss out on the opportunity to get clean.

The bath felt like heaven. He washed out days worth of dirt, sand, sweat, and grease, and he actually felt refreshed for once. He grabbed the new clothes that were left outside the lavatory, which were slightly too big on him, but he wasn't complaining. He went back downstairs, and the butcher informed him there was beef stew on the counter and that he could go out in the restaurant to eat it. Bart grabbed his stew, exiting the kitchen and sitting down in the restaurant, to where he could see Valor perched on the building across him, one of his magnifying glass eyes popped out and focused directly on Bart. He angrily squawked. Bart rolled his eyes. "I'm okay." he mouthed.

He finished his stew, not knowing what to do with the bowl, he just left it there, and went outside. He looked at the town around him. It was basically all on one large road. Ladies were walking down the street in bonnets and big gowns, giggling. Horses trotted down the street, either pulling a carriage or being ridden on by just one man. Children were playing jacks and checkers, meanwhile a group of older men were smoking cigars, drinking beer, and playing poker on a porch. Younger men seemed to be working, hauling things across the street together, covered in dirt, dust, and and sweat. A few people in more formal attire entered and exited the town's bank. Occasionally, a tumbleweed came and went.

Bart wasn't sure what to do now. He was in the west, that was for sure, and he wasn't going to be found out for what he did all the way across the country, but he was alone. He had Valor, the cog bird, and that was it. No friends, no bed to sleep in at night.

"What's a young n' free white boy like you doin' just standing there?" a voice behind him asked. Bart turned around. The man behind him was a toned, dark-skinned fellow. He was very sweaty, and he didn't have a shirt on. He wasn't too much older than Bart, probably by a year or two, and a few inches taller. The man continued to speak, "Aren't you going to the ceremony?"

"What ceremony?" Bart asked.

The man snorted, "The hanging of the witch, of course. Hadn't you heard? She had a long trial, some people probably wanted to save her, probably because she's pretty."

"What hanging? What witch? Where is this?" Bart asked.

The man tilted his head. "You're not from here, are you?"

"No." Bart said.

The man chuckled. "Thought so. Well, it's just over there." he pointed to a place some distance away where people began to gather. "The witch being hung is called _Zatanna."_ he said the name as if it were a dangerous thing.

"What did she do?" Bart asked.

"She may look like a white girl, but who knows what true form she has. She killed some white men with her witchcraft when they were trying to take Native territory, defended her tribe. They ended up managing to capture her. Turns out if you gag her mouth, her witchcraft won't work." the man said, "Even then. _Zatanna._ That's no white woman's name."

Bart looked back over and could begin to hear people shouting. The black man continued to talk. "Well, are you going?"

"Why aren't you?" Bart asked.

"Because I've gotta stay behind to clean up for my folks. They're hosting supper in a couple hours. The Foleys, they are. White folk like you. I'm their servant- basically, a slave but with some luxuries. My name's Virgil Hawkins."

"I'm Bar-" Bart cut himself off, then thought of a new name. "Richard Drake."

Virgil laughed. "What is it with white folk and naming all their sons 'Richard'? The Foleys got their son named Richard, too, though he goes by Richie."

"Right." Bart said, "Well, I'm gonna go to the… uh… ceremony. Bye, Virgil Hawkins."

"See ya around town, Richard Drake!" Virgil called out as Bart began to run at normal speeds towards the shouting crowd.

A " _Lynch the witch!"_ chant had been started, and Bart watched as a pretty, tall, black haired woman with blue eyes had a noose wrapped around her neck by a masked executor. Her hands were tied around her back and her mouth was gagged. Bart could practically smell her fear. The crowd cheered as the noose was put on, and a fat man with a top hat began to make a speech- probably the town's mayor. Bart didn't listen to the speech, however. Instead, he was thinking.

He felt her pain. It reminded him of how scared he was when people called him a warlock in the park, thinking he was dangerous, and must be removed from society. He had to save this girl, he knew. He thought of a plan. He'd run up the steps onto the platform she, the masked man, and the executor stood on, he would quickly remove the noose, grab her, and run away. He looked for Valor, and spotted him on a roof, and he seemed ready to attack. Bart knew he'd help.

He took off. He gasped as an awful ringing filled his ears and he, the mayor, and the executor fell over and off the platform. The crowd screamed and ran as a blue and black thing, which seemed to have human shape but Bart had honestly no idea what it was, flew onto the platform, pulled out a sword out of seemingly nowhere, and cut the noose right in half before it fell off of the woman's neck. It grabbed her and took off into the sky. Some of the men pulled out their rifles and shot at it, but it had no effect.

"Hey!" Bart called, anger filling him. That was his rescue! And besides, what _was_ that thing? Despite its shape, it definitely wasn't human, and he had no idea whether the girl was actually safe. On the ground, he began to chase the thing that flew in the sky, a trail of dirt and dust kicking up behind him as he ran into the open space.

He continued to call, and the creature spotted him, and then removed one its arms away from its grasp on the girl. The free black and blue arm formed into some sort of cannon, and a blast from it was sent directly at Bart. Bart screamed as a bright blue ball of fire headed straight for him, and he barely managed to avoid it. More blasts came from that, and Bart still managed to dodge, before the creature stopped mid-flight and began to hover towards the ground. Bart stopped as well. The humanoid creature removed the woman's gag and ropes, and she stood for a moment. It almost looked like the creature was telling her something, before she ran away.

Bart, deciding everything was safe, began to turn around and run back towards town, when he was suddenly hit in the back by one of those blasts, and he fell straight to the hard ground. He groaned in pain as he felt his back sizzle, and he knew his shirt had been burned through.

He heard the creature flying to him, and then stop on the ground. He could see the blue and black legs walk up from his feet to his face.

"Sit up."

It could speak? If Bart had heard correctly, the creature sounded like a regular human male.

He had trouble, but he managed to sit up, and he saw orange eyes digging into his own. He shuddered. Instead of a cannon, the creature now had swords for forearms. "Who are you, what are you, and what do you want?"

"I could ask the same." Bart chuckled nervously. The creature wasn't amused. Bart said, "I- uh… I'm Richard Drake. I'm not from here. I saw that girl about to be executed so I tried to rescue her. I thought you were going to hurt her too, but it seems you let her go, so I should really-" he stood up.

Cue the searing ear pain and falling over again.

" _Stay down!"_

"Why are you so mean, man? I was just going to leave."

"How can you run like that?"

"Run like what?"

"Like- _that!"_ the creature seemed to have trouble with his words.

"It was an accident." Bart mumbled.

"Do you work for anybody?" the creature asked.

"No!" Bart said, "I think this was all just a misunderstanding. Now I'd appreciate it if you let me leave without attacking me with all your… _thingies."_

"My _thingies."_ the creature said. "This is a sonic cannon." he let it go in a direction that was away from Bart, and Bart could see blue rings come out from it. "That's what makes your head hurt and your ears ring." the cannon suddenly switched out for another one. "This is a plasma cannon." he said, and a large, blue burst came out and went into the sky. "This is a staple cannon." he said, sending a large, metal rectangular device to the ground. "And these are scythes." the swords reappeared. "Any more questions?"

Bart just sat there, watching. "What are you?"

"A human, just like you." the creature insisted.

"Really? You sound like it, but don't look the part." Bart said.

Suddenly, Valor came out of the sky, releasing his gas on the creature's face. The creature didn't flinch, he just stood there. Without even looking, he grabbed the mechanical bird and looked at it. "This yours?" he asked as Valor panicked, trying to escape his grasp.

"Uh, yeah. It was a gift." Bart told him. "I need him for protection."

"Yep, he sure did a good job." the creature chuckled to himself.

"Hey man, just- ugh. Valor, calm down." Bart commanded, "This guy's not a threat- at least I don't think he is."

Valor relaxed, and the creature let him go. The bird sat next to Bart. "My turn. So, what are you exactly? Where are you from? How'd you get here?"

The creature chuckled. "You mean you don't think I'm a demon?"

Bart cocked an eyebrow. "No? Why would I think that?"

He smiled, and for some reason, the creature suddenly seemed to trust him. "You're different for a white man." He then seemed to get irritated. _"Yes, I should've known he wasn't from around here-_ ugh, just be quiet!" he then took a deep breath, and smiled again. "I guess you're one of us."

Bart was confused and slightly scared. He just stared for a few moments before he tilted his head, " _'One of-_ "

He was interrupted. "Come with me. I'll show you something, and we'll talk about it on the way there."

"Can't we just run and fly there?" Bart asked as they started to walk.

"We could, but there's no rush. Nobody's going to find us. Besides, I miss taking long walks." the creature admitted.

"Wow, I guess you really are just a normal human." Bart said.

"You still don't think I'm a human?" the creature asked, looking at him.

"Well, no, not exactly. I don't think you're a demon, but... I honestly have no idea what you are." Bart admitted.

The creature's metallic blue and black skin began to shed, and underneath the skin was a young man. His skin was tan, his eyes were brown, and he had short, black hair. He had a strong jaw and overall handsome features.

"Huh." Bart said, "I guess you are just a regular man."

"Not exactly." the man chuckled. "And neither are you."

"I can agree on that." Bart said, and they passed a dying tree. "Is there anything I can call you?"

"Jaime."

"Ah, okay, Jaime. I'm Bart."

Jaime was confused. "You said your name was Richard Drake."

"Oh!" Bart said, and he blushed, "Well, no. That was just a name I made up, because I got into legal trouble."

"Legal trouble? Are you an outlaw?"

"Well, no, I-" should he really be telling this man about what happened? It wasn't personal, per-se, but he just met the guy. "Can I tell it later? It's a really long story, and I'm tired."

He was surprised that Jaime didn't demand that he tell his entire story right away. Instead, he said, "That's okay. We're almost there, anyways."

"Where?"

"You'll know when you see it."


	6. The Tale Of The Outlaws (PT 2)

Barry fell back in his office desk chair as the police exited the factory. He wiped the sweat off of his brow. "How much worse can this get?"

Bruce, standing still and emotionless, looked out of the window. "Not much. They didn't find him here. You claimed you had no idea he was a ' _witch'_ , and our business won't suffer too much damage from that. Your grandson is long gone now, and he is safe."

"Dear god, I hope he'll end up being okay." Barry said, swiveling around in his chair.

"He'll be fine. When I first met him, I saw him as a sheepish boy. But he proved himself a man, and men know how to survive and succeed. It's how we got to here." Bruce gestured to the factory they were in. "He'll be just like your father, Barry. He'll find a way to live and prosper."

Barry sighed, "I can only hope."

x

"Look at this." Alfred set the newspaper down on the dining table of the Wayne household. Dick grabbed it, looking at it.

_**BARTHOLOMEW ALLEN, WARLOCK GRANDSON OF THE OWNER OF STAR LABS, MISSING & WANTED** _

_It was a normal sunny afternoon in Central Park. The birds were chirping, the skies were blue, and the children were playing, when Miss Eleanor Sprout screamed at her discovery. She had noticed that the man who set the main road afire and shattered every window on Main Road with his witchcraft just a few days prior, was in fact, standing right in front of her._

_The man's name was Bartholomew Allen._

_Bartholomew was born in Chicago, Illinois, on May 27th, 1867. He lived a impoverished lifestyle with his mother, Meloni Allen, and his father, Don Allen. According to Barry Allen, Bartholomew's grandfather and owner of STAR Labs, Don and Meloni had eloped, as Meloni was the daughter of the Thawne family (their business competitors), leading them to run away into Chicago. Bartholomew was an only child, and his father died in an accident in May, and his mother soon after, to where Barry Allen offered to take him in._

" _His parents were dead, and he was all alone. He was still family, and I felt a need to do something." Barry Allen claimed, "I had no idea he was a warlock. He didn't show any signs during his time at STAR Labs."_

_While in Central Park, Bartholomew was tackled and arrested by police. A young girl who was with him attacked the officers. They managed to escort her away and contain the warlock, before he suddenly disappeared, leaving his clothing and his restraints behind._

" _He disappeared without a trace." Jeffrey Ernolds, a local witness reported. "Just like that, he was there and then he was gone, and then there was a slight breeze."_

_The young girl who attacked the officers ended up being Jenni Ognats, the granddaughter of the mayor of New York City. She confirmed the warlock was in fact, her first cousin, Bartholomew Allen._

_Jeven Ognats, her father, apologized for her behavior. "She is a little girl, and she was scared and confused. She is truly sorry for hurting the officers. She had no idea Bart was a warlock and she was trying to protect her family."_

_There is an ongoing investigation to locate as to where Bartholomew is, but city sheriff John Jones is doubtful they'll find him._

" _We don't know if he'll be back to cause more destruction. He can suddenly fade away without a trace." he says, "This isn't a regular man we're dealing with here- this is a test from the devil himself."_

Dick put down the paper and just stared.

"Well, isn't that a load of horse feces if you've ever seen it?" Alfred scoffed.

"Yeah." Dick agreed, nodding slowly, and then he repeated. "Yeah."

* * *

Jaime was right. Once it came into view, Bart could see it. It was the home of a tribe, next to a running stream of clean water and an array of trees. Cream colored tepees lightly moved in the breeze. An unlit campfire surrounded by rocks sat in the center of the tepees, horses with feathers in their manes grazed on grass, and an entire tribe of Native Americans were doing their respective duties, whether it be preparing dinner, sharpening weapons, or sewing clothes.

"This is the Longshadow tribe. I live here, and so does Zatanna. They took us in." Jaime explained. When the tribal men saw Bart, they immediately grabbed their spears and bows and ran up. Valor got ready to attack, and Bart made him calm down.

Jaime began to yell in a language Bart didn't understand. The men stood down, and Jaime began to speak in a normal tone. One of the tribe men yelled something, and pointed at Bart. There were grunts of agreement among his peers. Bart nervously tapped his foot. Jaime walked up to the man, placing a hand on his shoulder, and gestured to Bart again, continuing to speak.

The man grunted something before he and the other men walked away, and other tribe members could be seen staring.

"What just happened?" Bart asked.

"The man I just talked to was Tye. He's my best friend. He's the tribe's deputy." Jaime explained, "His father is the chief. He's next in line after his father dies." Jaime led him into the camp, and into a tepee. Inside, Zatanna sat, legs crossed, arms out, eyes closed, and she was floating in the air.

Bart gasped, "She's actually a witch?!"

The interruption startled Zatanna, and she dropped to the ground. She looked up at Bart, and then at Jaime. "Is this the man who was chasing us?"

"Yep." Jaime folded his arms, "This is Bart."

"Did you take him prisoner or something?" Zatanna asked, clearly confused. "I thought you were going to kill him back when you set me on the ground. Also, what's that thing?" she pointed to Valor.

"You were going to _what?!"_ Bart asked, ignoring Jaime's question. Jaime looked down.

"I didn't know who you were and what you wanted- and if I'm to be honest, I still really don't know who you are, but at least I can trust you."

Bart, on the other hand, still seemed offended. "You planned on _killing me?"_

"Don't view it as something personal," Zatanna said as she stood up, and boy was she tall. She stood over Bart and Jaime. "he had to do what he had to do to protect me and protect the tribe. You wouldn't be the first time we took drastic measures. Jaime," she turned towards him, "why didn't you kill him? Why do you trust him? No offense, Bart, but I want to find out."

"When I shot him with a plasma blast as he was running away, I thought for sure that was going to end him." Jaime explained, "After all, it did kill my-" he cut himself off, "anyways, scarab told me that he was still alive and well. So I flew up to him and decided to question him instead. Scarab told me he was trustworthy, that he wasn't working for Windland."

"What's Windland?" Bart asked, "And what's 'scarab'?"

"Windland is the nearby town." Zatanna explained, and then she chuckled. "Also, I think we have a lot of getting to know each other to do."

"Yeah, no doubt." Jaime agreed, he then rolled up the back of his shirt. "This is the scarab. It attached to my spine last year. He calls himself Khaji Da."

"Let me guess. Really long story?" Bart asked. Jaime nodded. "Great. Well, I'm hungry, so I'll wait. The more I run, the hungrier I get, and more quickly. Is there anything to eat?"

"Another meal won't be for another few hours, but I suppose you can try catching fish in the stream." Zatanna suggested. Bart nodded and took off, Valor following him.

As Bart left, he could hear Zatanna ask, "No, but seriously, what _was_ that thing?"

x

Catching fish from the stream was surprisingly easy with super speed. Bart held his catch firmly and tossed it onto the grass, and it flopped around. Bart wasn't sure how to kill it, so Valor stabbed it with his beak, and it was dead. Some of the tribe children looked over at them, very confused and slightly afraid. Valor squawked at them, and they screamed, running away.

Valor used his sharp talons to skin Bart's fish for him, and Bart thanked him before eating. It was absolutely disgusting, and he had to pick bones out of his teeth, but at least it was something to eat.

"How was it?" Jaime asked.

 _"Ah!_ How long have you been here?" Bart stood up and nervously chuckled.

"As soon as the kiddos started screaming. I see you and your friend are, uh… returning to your caveman roots." Jaime commented. Valor twitched.

"Yeah, I'm not exactly a fan of the whole 'survival' thing." Bart admitted.

"Welcome to the west." Jaime rolled his eyes. "Who caught the fish? You or the bird?"

"Me!" Bart said proudly, "I mean, Valor killed it, but I have super speed, so I just kinda… grabbed the fish out of the water."

"I see." Jaime knelt down and inspected the bird a bit more, "I've been meaning to ask about that, actually. It's really intriguing."

"Not as intriguing as whatever you've got going on." Bart said as he sat back down. Jaime gave him a perplexed look. "I mean, like, whatever is happening to you is pretty nifty."

Jaime scoffed, "Yeah, right." he looked down. "It's not." his eyes narrowed. " _Shut up, won't you?! Yes, I know- I know, I know- stop compl- ugh."_

"Is that Cajun Doo?" Bart asked.

Jaime broke into a fit of laughter, " _Khaji Da_ , hermano." he corrected.

"Oh." Bart looked down, his face getting red. "My bad."

"No, no, it's fine." Jaime said, he then smirked. "How do you like the sound of that, Cajun Doo?" there was silence for a second. "Nah, you're Cajun Doo now. I like that better." another few more seconds. "Oh quit your complaining, Cajun Doo."

"I'm guessing he doesn't like that." Bart chuckled.

"Nope." Jaime confirmed.

"So, he just like, talks to you in your head?" Bart asked.

Jaime nodded. "I'm the only one who can hear him. He's a chatterbox. And a whiner."

"Huh." Bart said, "Well, how'd you even get him in the first place?"

"I want to ask the same about your bird." Jaime admitted.

"Let me guess, I have to tell my very long story first?" Bart teased.

"Yeah. I like long stories." Jaime said.

"Well, alright then." Bart took a deep breath. "I'm not from around here. I was born in Chicago, over halfway across the country, and I lived in Chicago all my life up until recently. Wasn't the richest kid, but I had both of my parents, a home, went to school, had stuff to eat. I was in arranged marriage, and I had no choice but to marry this girl I was friends with, but I never really liked her in, y'know, a _wife_ way." Bart said. Jaime nodded. "Anyways, my dad died in an accident in May, and soon after that, my mom died from a broken heart. I missed my parents, so I took my dad's revolver, stuck it in my mouth, about to shoot myself." a look of concern came over Jaime's face. "Right before I was going to pull the trigger, my grandfather knocked on my door. That's where the fun begins."

Bart told Jaime pretty much everything that happened from then on until now. Going back with Barry, meeting Dick and Tim, working at STAR Labs, seeing his family, being accused of witchcraft, running away to the west. You name it. He talked about what he felt and thought during the time he was there, and mentioned the eloping of his parents as well. Jaime was a good listener- Bart figured it was because of the other voice in his head, he'd give anything to listen to anyone else. He asked a few questions throughout, but Bart answered them all with relative ease.

"And now I'm here, sitting with you." Bart concluded.

"Hermano, that is the craziest story I've ever heard in my life, but Khaji says you're not lying- not that I thought you were, anyways. But seriously. Dios mío." Jaime said.

Zatanna approached them. "Dinner's ready."

They got up, and just as Bart was about to walk, Zatanna said, "Hold still." Bart froze.

She spoke in an odd language and her eyes glowed. She cast some sort of spell on him, he knew, but he didn't know what it was.

"Communication spell." she explained, "Now you'll be able to understand members of the tribe."

 _Huh_ , Bart thought.

Dinner was some sort of animal roasted on top of the fire, Bart couldn't tell. He ate it on a stick, and it was pretty tasty. Much tastier than the raw fish, anyways. Valor pecked at it, and Bart shooed him away.

"Who is this white boy, and why is he here?" one of the elderly women of the tribe asked. "How do we know he's not just a spy for Windland? Why is Jaime trusting him?"

"I don't know." one of the other elderly women responded, "He seems odd. We will respect him for now, I have trust in Jaime, but we should still proceed the white boy with caution. Chief Shadow will be returning tomorrow, and he'll know what's best."

"Despite your spirit and wisdom, Jaime, I don't trust him." Tye admitted, and turned to his friend. "I saw you two talking for a long time. What did he tell you?"

"Why don't you trust me?" Bart asked. The entire tribe sat with wide eyes.

"How does he speak our language?" one of the elder men asked.

"He doesn't. It's a communication spell." Zatanna spoke up, "The same one I used on myself. He's been hearing everything you say in the form of English, his language."

The tribe members looked down and shifted uncomfortably.

"Bart," Jaime looked over to him, "Why don't you tell them the story that you told me?"

"He's a storyteller?" a little girl asked, getting excited.

"No, not exactly." Jaime said, "But he does have his own story, except it's a long one. If you're interested in hearing about it, come gather in my tent after dinner."

Bart mumbled to Jaime, "I never said I wanted to tell it again."

"Well, if you want to gain the Longshadows' trust, this is how." Jaime insisted.

Bart sighed.

x

And so, Bart repeated his tale. It was intimidating having to do it in front of a crowd of people, and he didn't enjoy telling it to them as nearly as much as he enjoyed telling it to Jaime.

The children seemed to love the story, the adults were interested, and Tye stood in the corner, seeming skeptical of the entire thing.

After it was done, everybody left to go to bed.

"Where shall Bart sleep?" one of the women of the tribe asked.

"He can stay in my tepee for now." Jaime told her.

"Nonsense." she laughed, "A god shouldn't have to share a sleeping place with a regular man."

"He isn't a regular man." Jaime insisted, "Now go, Nina. You've had a long day, and you need your rest."

She nodded, bowing before exiting the tent.

"Did she just call you a god?" Bart asked.

Jaime laughed. "I guess it's my turn to tell my long story now, huh?"

Bart nodded, "Definitely."

"Alright, fine. Well, you have two options. Go to sleep now and hear about it tomorrow, or come out on the watch with me and I'll tell you it then." Jaime told him.

"I'll stay up." Bart replied.

"Alright then." Jaime exited the tent, Bart followed, to which, Valor did. They sat underneath a tree by the stream, which had a perfect view of the camp. The sound of running water soothed Bart, and Valor perched himself on a branch. The sky was full of bright stars, and the full moon gave Jaime's skin a nice glow.

"So, I was born in Mexico. Grew up in Mexico City. Only spoke Spanish. I had a mom, a dad, and a little sister. Our house was small. One bedroom, one bathroom, one living room, one kitchen. My sister and I slept in the living room. I had schooling up to the sixth grade and that was it. I worked as a chimney sweep from when I was twelve until I was seventeen. My family couldn't even afford to set up a marriage for me. Nobody was interested in tying knots with us. We were poor, but my life didn't take a turn for the worst until I was eighteen."

* * *

Alberto Reyes set down the bucket of water by the chimney, which was unlit.

"Bianca!" he called out to the kitchen.

"Yes?" she asked, sticking her head out the door as she paused in preparing dinner.

"Come here."

Bianca sighed, "Jaime, take over for mamá, would you?" she requested. Jaime nodded, pushing his sore limbs up from the chair he was sitting in to continue to cut the chicken as his mother rushed out to the living room.

As he cut, he overheard their conversation.

"This is the last of our fresh water for the week from the well. Everything else is filthy, or dried up. We can't stay, Bianca. We have to leave."

"But where would we go?" Bianca asked. "Besides, Milagro is still in school. She needs to stay for her education."

"Bianca, we are going to dehydrate and die if we stay. It's getting filthier by the second. The government is corrupt, keeping it all for themselves. I'm selling the house and going to America."

"America will take weeks to get there! How do you know we won't starve on our way?"

"I don't!" Alberto yelled, "But at least it will be a chance of living, instead of waiting to die here!"

"Alberto, please." Bianca begged, "Please think about this thoroughly."

"I already have." Alberto told her, "I'm taking the last pesos we have and I'm going to use them to buy oxen and a wagon. We'll travel up, and we'll have a good life in America. I promise."

Bianca sighed, "Fine."

x

Jaime and Milagro were called to the living room later that night to have a talk about leaving. Milagro cried, because she didn't want to leave her friends. Jaime wasn't all upset about the move, as most of his friends were either being married off or leaving themselves, anyways. Bianca took Milagro to her bedroom, and comforted her there. Alberto turned to Jaime.

"Jaime, we're going to be very limited in resources on our trip up." he warned, "Can you do something for me?"

Jaime nodded.

"Be selfless. Your mother and Milagro come first. If you and I must starve to fill their stomachs, then that's what's going to happen."

"I understand, papá. I would do anything to take care of them and make sure they're okay." Jaime reassured.

"That's what I thought." Alberto grinned, and then he switched the subject. "How many pesos do you have left from sweeping?"

x

Jaime loaded the last item into the carriage and hopped in. Milagro was quietly sobbing, holding her straw doll in close, and Bianca encouraged her to stop, because crying would dehydrate her.

Jaime looked out the back of the wagon as they began to pull away from Mexico City.

x

The trip was long, hard, and nearly fatal. Jaime would go days without eating, and when it finally rained once they were further up north, it was like Christmas. Milagro and Jaime jumped around together in the rain, sticking their tongues out, embracing the hydration.

They got into America after four weeks, and Alberto would use his knife to slice the cacti to drink out of. They killed lizards and ate them. Jaime hated how rubbery they were.

After five and a half weeks, they finally found a place with a stream, green grass, and fertile soil. They all cheered, happy they'd finally be able to start their new home and prosper.

After that, the next few weeks consisted of Milagro and Bianca planting the seeds that they brought with and catching fish, and Jaime and Alberto building the house. They sold one of their oxen to purchase nails and hammers, and everything was looking up.

They finished the house, lived in it, and dug a well, too. They spent the summer preparing for winter, and survived it just fine- it wasn't too harsh. Jaime went out and got a job at the nearby town, but not as a chimney sweep. He became a servant, which was much better than being a chimney sweeper. The folks he worked for were very warm and welcoming, and even invited Jaime's family over for supper sometimes. He became friends with the family's daughter, Traci, and she helped him learn English. Admittedly, began to get feelings for her, but she was courting somebody else, so he backed off.

One evening, he was dusting the mother's knick-knack shelf, which always had some… strange items. Lots of things in glass vases, including dead scorpions, dead snakes, dead-you-name-it. He wasn't even sure how some of the stuff got inside their vases, as the openings of them were too narrow to even fit the items inside. There were also some small statues, but regardless, the shelf collected a lot of dust and needed to be cleaned often.

The family's dog saw a cat outside and started barking, which startled Jaime, causing him to accidentally knock over and shatter one of the mother's vases.

"Oh no.." he mumbled, looking at the destroyed vase on the floor. The blue scarab inside it had remained undamaged.

He went to pick up the scarab to put it back on the shelf and then go sweep up the glass, but then the scarab started moving and crawling up his arm.

He screamed with horror, and then with pain as he felt it crawl down his shirt and stab itself directly into his spine.

How in the hell was the thing even _alive?!_ Jaime fell to his hands and knees, gasping heavily, feeling a strange sensation come over him. He was going to die, and he knew it.

Traci came running down the stairs, and she screamed. "T-traci! Help!" Jaime yelled at her entrance.

She continued to scream as she ran back upstairs, and Jaime blacked out.

He woke up resting on Traci's bed.

"T-that wasn't Jaime! I swear, pa! He's possessed!" Traci yelled, pacing back and forth in her bedroom as her father stared at Jaime. He groaned. "See! Doesn't that face look possessed to you? He was all blue and black, pa, I swear! And his eyes were gold!"

Her father seemed confused. "He just looks like he got knocked on the head to me."

"What happened?" Jaime mumbled.

"Seems like you had a vase fall on your head." the father told him, "I understand it was an accident. Head home to heal up, won't you?"

"Yes, sir." Jaime said, sitting up, and he felt dizzy for a moment before beginning to leave.

As he closed the bedroom door behind him, he heard Traci screaming and crying about how nobody was listening.

x

Jaime's family wondered why he was back so early, so he repeated what he'd been told. A vase fell on his head, and he needed to rest.

So, rest he did.

He woke up later that evening still not feeling well. Bianca requested that he cooked the chicken over the fire. Jaime agreed, but accidentally left it there too long, and he burned it. Which ended up getting him into an argument with his father.

"Do you honestly expect our family to eat pieces of coal?!"

"I'm hurt, papá! I'm sorry, I can't focus. I can't think clearly."

"You had plenty of time to rest! Our family needs to eat, and you need to focus! We paid good money for our chickens!"

"Stop yelling at me! I tried my best!" Jaime yelled.

"Don't you backtalk me! Now you'll go into town and pay for chickens with your own money! _Now!"_

"STOP IT!" Jaime yelled, and suddenly, a strange sensation went over him, and next thing he knew, there was a hole in the wall, and the wall was charred black and smoking.

Bianca and Milagro stood in shock. Milagro then reacted by screaming and crying, burying her head into her mother's chest.

Bianca looked into her son's eyes, and she spoke as if someone died. "What _are_ you?"

Jaime looked down at himself. He was covered in blue and black armor, and he had a cannon out on one of his arms. It pulled back. "Mamá, I-"

Bianca ran out the door, Milagro in her arms, and to where Alberto lay. He was charred black, and most definitely dead. She screamed at the sight, and collapsed on her knees and cried.

Jaime stood for a moment before he simply sprinted out the door and ran away. To where, he didn't know. He just continued to run, far away, until he suddenly realized he was flying, zipping across the sky like a shooting star. He managed to land by a river, and his armor pulled back. He finally felt human again.

It was dawn, and he watched as the boats drifted by.

"What am I?"

_You, Jaime Reyes, are my host._

Jaime screamed at the voice in his head.

_Do not panic, Jaime Reyes. I am artificial intelligence, and my name is Khaji Da. I fused with your spine, as I saw you as a suitable host. You are the "Blue Beetle", and now possess the armor of alien technology. Specifically, the Reach._

"I don't want your stupid armor!" Jaime yelled. "Get out of me!"

_I cannot do such, even if I wanted to. I am fused with you until you are dead._

Jaime grumbled. This was gonna be fun.

x

He tried ripping the scarab out of his back on his own a few times, but it never worked. Now living on his own, he survived off of wild animals and stream water. They weren't hard to catch with the assistance of his armor, but one day, the inevitable happened.

He was found by a group of hunters from Windland near a Native tribe, who immediately assumed he was a demon. Jaime fought the group of five, and ended up slaughtering them all.

The tribe saw it all.

They praised him, thanked him for protecting them, assuming he was a God that was sent down to save the tribe from the white man.

Jaime told them he wasn't, but he really couldn't convince them otherwise. The Longshadows made him at home, giving him his respective spot in the tribe. During his time there, he made very good friends with the chief's son, Tye. And he lived like that for some time, until a lone woman walked up to him one night while he was guarding the camp.

He didn't find her a threat, and assumed she was lost. Still, he kept his distance. She didn't scream when she saw him, instead, she smiled. "I've been looking for you."

"Huh?"

" _Flesruoy laever."_ she uttered, and suddenly Jaime's armor shed. "Thought you were just a human." she chuckled.

Jaime's armor immediately came back up, and he pulled out a cannon, "Who are you?"

"My name is Zatanna Zatara. I'm a witch from Windland- a white witch, that is. I've heard about you, people say you are a demon, but I didn't believe that. I wanted to find out if you were a magic user, too." Zatanna told him. "I used my magic to track you down. I don't have any harmful intent. In fact, I couldn't care less that you're killing people- the people of the town would kill me the second they found out that I use witchcraft. Is your armor the result of magic?"

"No. I don't use magic." Jaime told her. "It's a piece of alien technology that's fused to my spine. I can't get it off, even though I really want to."

"Maybe I could try?" Zatanna offered.

Jaime looked down, not exactly sure if he could trust this girl. He then thought about his mother and sister, and how badly he wanted to see them again. "Fine." he finally said.

She tried to remove it all night, as quietly as possible as well, but everything she tried, failed, and only made Jaime wince in intense pain. Khaji Da went on all night about how he'd never be removed, _ever._

Zatanna decided to depart before the morning came, and though it was a very painful night with her, part of Jaime wanted to see her again. She was just so intriguing. When he expressed this, she said that if he shed his armor, she could bring him over to her place, and she could show him everything she had. Jaime said he couldn't leave the tribe unprotected. That's when Zatanna promised to return for a visit.

And she did, and the tribe liked her. She ended up healing a little boy who was deathly sick, and like they praised Jaime as a God and a protector, they praised Zatanna as a Goddess and a healer.

It wasn't long before Zatanna ended up joining Jaime in the act of protecting the Longshadows, though. The white men really wanted the land, and Jaime and Zatanna refused to give it to them.

Zatanna was captured and set to be killed right away. Jaime went after her, and flew away with her, back to camp as quickly as possible, when he noticed someone running really fast chasing after him.

He shot at the man but to no avail. He finally set Zatanna down, cut loose her ties and gags, and told her to get back to the tribe immediately, and that he'd kill the man. The man began to run back towards town, and Jaime shot a plasma blast directly at him, and the man fell. Feeling satisfied, Jaime began to fly away, but Khaji Da spoke.

_The subject is not deceased._

Jaime flew over to him, then walked up to his face. He stared at the man below him, seeing his own reflection in the pupils of the man's green eyes.

"Sit up."

* * *

"And I think you know what happens from there." Jaime concluded.

Bart yawned, "That was quite a story, Jaime. I'm real tired, though. Can I head off to bed?"

Jaime nodded, and Bart began to walk away, disappearing in the darkness of Jaime's tent.

Valor's left eye popped out of place and looked directly at Jaime.

Jaime couldn't help but laugh.


	7. The Tale Of The Outlaws (PT 3)

“This place feels empty.” Tim commented as he and Dick sat around in their private lab the next day. Both had attempted to work on their projects, but neither were in the mood. Dick sat solemnly at his workbench, folding his arms on the table and resting his head on them. He gave an apathetic nod in agreement.

“Do you think he’ll ever come back?” Tim asked as he sat on the floor, leaning against Dick’s workbench, fidgeting with some metal rings.

“I hope so.” Dick mumbled, “Do you think he’ll ever come visit?” he then paused. “Wait, we’re both talking about Bart here, right?”

Tim laughed. “Yeah. I guess I miss Valor a little bit too, though. But I’m much happier that he’s out there with Bart rather than here. But,” he paused his fidgeting and simply looked at the metal rings. “I don’t think he’ll visit. We’re probably never see him again.” he continued to fidget.

Dick let out a sigh, was silent for a few moments, then spoke. “I know this sounds dumb, but deep down in my heart, I really do think we’ll see him again.”

“Yeah, that does sound dumb.” Tim acknowledged.

“If he vibrates really fast, he vibrates out of everything he’s wearing.” Dick said.

Tim seemed perplexed. “Yeah? And?”

“I was thinking about building a suit. One that could withstand all of the vibration so that he wouldn’t vibrate out. One he could wear if he wants to go really fast.” Dick said.

“And how would you do it?” Tim asked.

“I don’t know yet. I’m still figuring it out. I’m sure Barry could help.” Dick responded.

“But why are you building a suit for a man you won’t see again?” Tim asked. 

“We are going to see him again.” Dick insisted.

Tim stood up, and placed a hand on Dick’s shoulder. Dick raised his head from his forearms to look at him. “Dick,” Tim said, “you’re in denial. I get it, you miss him. I miss him, too. He was a very good friend, irreplaceable. But he’s gone now, and he’s living a new life. He’s probably going to make new friends, have a new job, get a wife, start a family, have an entirely different life. He’s going to move on. And as hard as it is for the both of us,” he took a deep breath, “we’re going to have to move on, too.” 

* * *

Bart fell asleep huddling himself in a buffalo hide. Though it kept him warm, the ground he was on wasn’t as nearly as comfortable as the beds he slept on in New York City, but it was better than the places he rested in during his travels. His hide seemed to suddenly disappear, and he shivered and woke up. The tepee almost looked lit up with the morning sunlight that surrounded it, and Jaime was in the corner with his armor still on, sleeping like a dog. Bart looked above him, and saw his hide was floating away. He looked very confused, until he saw Zatanna at the entrance of the tent. 

“Wake up, sleepy head.” she smiled. “Breakfast is ready, and Chief Shadow is returning from his hunt soon. You’re going to need to introduce yourself to him.”

Bart grumbled, “Five more minutes.”

“No, Bart. Come on now.” 

He heard Zatanna mumble something, and then he was floating in the air, being pulled away from the tent. He just groaned in frustration. He was set on the ground and handed breakfast- something in some sort of clay bowl, and again, he couldn’t tell what it was- and began to eat by lifting the bowl to his mouth, as there were no spoons. Zatanna sat next to him and began to speak. Valor joined soon after.

“I was there for your story last night,” she said, “And I wanted to thank you.” 

“For the story?” Bart looked at her confused. She chuckled.

“No, for attempting to rescue me. Understanding my fear. Being concerned for my safety.” she explained, “You’re a good man, with good intentions in his heart. Unfortunately, most of the men around here aren’t.” she sighed, and looked into the food in her bowl. “Maybe they’re nice in the east, but the white men out west are greedy. They want all the land to themselves, and refuse to share. They welcome the Natives in _their_ lifestyle- said they’d treat them as fellow men as long as they were fellow men who worked the jobs _they_ worked. They said they’d accept the natives as long as they put their children in the tiny, stuffy buildings they call ‘school’ instead of teaching them to hunt. They want to push the tribal way of life out, use the land to put up their buildings. They’ve already succeeded in some places, and some Natives have converted to their way of life, but I’ve seen the looks on their faces. No human, regardless of ethnicity, truly wants to live in a cramped up little home in a cramped up little town. At the end of the day, we’re all animals who want and need nature. Most of us, especially the whites, just managed to suppress that.”

“Huh.” Bart thought about it. “Maybe the white men should just convert to the Native way of life, and we can all live in peace with each other and nature.”

“Some have.” Zatanna explained, “Plenty of young white boys and girls have gotten sick of their artificial lifestyle, and ran off to be one with nature, taken in by tribes. I’m one of them. You’re one of them. And though Jaime isn’t white, he’s also one of them.”

“Well, I didn’t run off to be one with nature.” Bart contradicted her point, “I ran off because I had to. In fact, my entire life in New York City was just that- filled with things nature couldn’t produce. Science stuff. Chemicals. Machines. Electricity. And I miss it there, I miss my friends.”

“Hmm, well, it’s only natural for a man to miss his loved ones,” Zatanna brought up, “maybe it isn’t the case for some other animals, but it’s true for us. Humans need companionship, they need each other. Regardless of the lifestyle, humans always had companions, even if the companion wasn’t a human itself. Dogs are a fine example.” 

Bart thought of Barry’s dog, Flash, and smiled a bit at the memory of being licked on the nose. “I know this doesn’t have to do with what we’re talking about, but how’d you become a witch? Witches are always made out to be bad, evil women, but you’re not a bad person.”

“Well, there are bad witches.” Zatanna told him, “Some practice black magic, cast demons, bring disharmony. But I’m a white witch, and I do practice witchcraft, but it’s more ‘general magic’. The bad witches practice witchcraft for the sake of evil. I practice witchcraft for the sake of power and intelligence.” she finished her bowl of food. “I was born Minneapolis. My mother died giving birth to me, and my father was a warlock. He was the first in my family to have moved to America, as he had gotten in trouble in England for witchcraft. His entire family practiced it for generations upon generations, as far back as records go. He vowed to give it up once he got to America, where he met my mother. After she died, he then decided that he’d teach me everything he knew. She never knew he was a warlock.” 

“Wow, Bart breathed, “How’d he teach you without getting in trouble again? How’d you end up here?”

“He owned a pub, and in the cellar, he would teach me there. He had books and books upon spells, potions, you name it.” Zatanna explained, “As for the story as to how I got here, well, to make it simple, I fled, just like you.”

* * *

Zatanna was cleaning up after the pub closed, wiping the counters clean to make them shiny again. She was a pretty young woman, and at the age of fifteen, she was just the right age to enter a courtship. She and her father had talked about it, and they both knew they’d have some difficulty determining who to marry due to the issue of magic. If they couldn’t find a man trustworthy enough to keep the secret, she may have to either remain unmarried or give up magic altogether. 

The pub doors opened, and a man with a hat over his eyes and a trench coat stepped inside, smoking a cigarette. 

“Hello?” Zatanna called, “Sir, the pub is closed. Did you lose something?” 

The man took off his hat, “Relax, darling. It’s me, Jeremy Montrose.” he placed his hat and trench coat on the coat rack. The man had bright, blonde curly hair and icy blue eyes, and he was very tall. He was an average looking man, nothing about him really made him unique, other than the fact that his uncle owned the city’s bank. 

Zatanna knew Jeremy. Jeremy was two years older than her, and they went to the same schoolhouse and their homes were nearby each other. Jeremy walked up to her, cigarette hanging out of his mouth, and he smiled. “I just wanted to talk to you.” 

Zatanna wasn’t really up to it. “About?” 

Jeremy continued to smile, getting even closer, to the point where Zatanna was pressed up against the counter. Jeremy leaned against the wall, and laughed, using one of his hands to take the cigarette out. “Zatanna Zatara, you are the most beautiful woman in all of Minneapolis. And I haven’t been able to keep my eyes off you since the day I met you.” 

Zatanna looked down, shifting uncomfortably. 

“I was thinking maybe you and I could enter a courtship together.” he put the cigarette out, “Of course, I’d have to talk to your father first, but I think we could work something out. Just think about it. My uncle’s bank, your father’s bar. We could have a nice family.” 

“Jeremy, I-” 

“You in?”

“I- I’m not ready to enter a courtship.” she stuttered. 

Jeremy laughed. “‘Course you are! Look at you, you ain’t a little girl. You’re a stunning woman. I have faith in you.” and then his voice lowered, and he smirked. “Besides, if you need a little convincing, I can always do that.” He began to lean in for a kiss, and Zatanna panicked. 

 _“Erif!_ ” she yelled. Jeremy screamed as he began to get engulfed in flames, and he ran around like a maniac to try and put himself out. Zatanna stood wide-eyed, grabbing a bucket and running over to the sink, filling it up with water. She splashed it on him, and he was put out, but he was severely burned. He lay on the floor, moaning in pain.  

Zatara came running up from the cellar. “Zatanna, are-” he stopped himself and stared at Jeremy. 

“I didn’t mean to!” Zatanna cried, “What can we do?”   

“Move aside.” Zatara said, and went up to Jeremy, who was still conscious. He placed a hand on him. _“Snrub eht laeh.”_  

Normal skin began to grow back over Jeremy’s burns, and he stood up and ran out the door. _“Witches!”_ he screamed as he ran down the streets, _“Zatanna Zatara and her father are witches!”_  

Zatanna and her father looked at each other before nodding. They quickly packed their things and were gone within a matter of minutes.

x

Zatanna and Zatara settled in the town of Windland. They had a nice home, but Zatara wasn’t very happy in it. He didn’t like hot the environment of the place and didn’t like the lifestyle of the people. Zatanna, on the other hand, loved it. She wasn’t exactly a social butterfly either, but the wide open spaces of the land gave her plenty of space to practice spells safely outdoors. After a year and a half, Zatara declared he was moving back to Europe, and Zatanna was to come with. Zatanna rejected her father, saying that she was to stay in Windland. They argued back and forth over it, until Zatara finally gave in after a few months, and Zatanna was left on her own. 

It was very uncommon for a woman to live on her own, and much of the townsfolk would talk to her because they were intrigued by the tabooness. Among the lines of finally talking to the people on the town, she also heard about the nearby _“demon”_. Blue and black with orange eyes, he would kill any man who got near him to protect the Satanic tribe of the Longshadows. 

Of course, Zatanna wasn’t a sheep. She knew that wasn’t the case. Tracking down this “demon”, she approached him one night by the Longshadow camp.

“I’ve been looking for you.” 

* * *

“I guess we’re similar in a lot of ways.” Bart said after she finished telling her story. “Actually, me, you and Jaime, really. Accused of being evil, just because we’re just a little extraordinary.”

 “Tell me about it.” Zatanna laughed. Suddenly, the galloping of hooves were heard, and a group of tribal men and their horses arrived at the camp, along with the corpses of many dead animals. The man at the front was the chief, Bart assumed. He was covered in many accessories, and had some sort of large, feathered cap.

He got off of his steed, and walked over to Bart.

“Who is this?” he pointed at him.

“Father,” Tye approached him. “This is Bart Allen. He has godly powers, not unlike Zatanna and Jaime.” he said the words almost in spite.

“Why is he here?”

“I believe he can tell you that. Zatanna cast a spell on him, and he can speak to us.” Tye said. Chief Shadow walked up to Bart, and Bart couldn’t help but be intimidated by the large man.

Zatanna spoke. “Welcome back, Chief Shadow. How was your hunt?”

“Excellent, Zatanna. Thank you.” he said, then he spoke to Bart. “Who are you? What is your story? Who is your friend?” he gestured to Valor.

“B-Bart Allen, sir.” Bart stuttered, then he cleared his throat. “My friend- the bird- his name is Valor. We’re not from here.”

“Tell him your story.” Tye commanded.

Bart nodded and repeated the story. Chief Shadow seemed very intrigued, and by the end of it, he was smiling. “That is a tale to be told for centuries, Bart.” was all he said before walking away.

Tye seemed shocked that his father didn’t question him further. Angry, he went after him.

“What’s wrong with Tye?” Bart asked.

“Don’t take it personally.” Zatanna insisted, “He’s always had trust issues. It took him a while to warm up to me, Jaime, and now it’ll be you.”

Bart nodded, and Jaime walked out of his tepee, his armor nowhere to be seen.

“It’s about time you woke up!” Zatanna teased.

“Long night of patrol. Had to get lots of sleep.” Jaime said as an excuse.

“Anything significant?”

“A couple of coyotes trying to steal some of our meat, but that was it.” Jaime said, “No attacks from Windland.” he looked over to Bart. “How was your day so far, Bart?”

Bart seemed surprised by the question. “It was good.” he said, “Zatanna told me about how she got here, and I talked to Chief Shadow.”

“He’s back already?” Jaime asked.

Bart nodded.

“Well, I’m going to go talk to him. See you two later.” he said before walking away.

Bart spent the rest of the day bonding with the tribe. The elders taught him how to sew, and he helped the younger men skin fish. Valor did it the most efficiently, and he could see their jaws drop at the bird’s skill. He helped the women gather crops, and the women of the tribe sure did like him. He was constantly being swooned by them, telling him how handsome and Godly he was, especially from the younger women. Bart never felt so many hands on his body at once. When it got to be a bit too much, Valor would squawk at the ladies, warning them to back off. After that, he played with the children of the tribe, and they painted on him and put a band with feathers on his head. They painted on Valor’s wings as well. As Bart sat there with them, he earned a new nickname- “God Of Speed”.

One of the boys expressed wanting to see Bart run, and the other children joined him. “Run! Show us your powers!” they’d say. Bart grinned.

“If you insist.” he said. They all cheered.

He took off running towards the sunset, the band on his head flying off. He looked at the open, beautiful land around him as he sped past it.

He thought about the conversation he and Zatanna had that morning. About how the white men planned on taming the wild land, using it to put up their buildings- to rid the land of its natural beauty in exchange for an artificial, cramped lifestyle.

 _Why?_ Bart wondered.

He headed back to the camp, and the children were cheering, and the rest of the members were smiling and nodding at him. Dinner was being served, and his stomach was growling, so he sat down with Zatanna and Jaime to eat.

The Longshadows went on about how they were the strongest tribe in the land, with the trio of gods that they had. Chief Shadow reassured that they’d never bow down to Windland, and the tribe cheered.

Nightfall came, and Jaime went out to patrol again. Bart decided to join him once more underneath the tree.

“Do you guys switch patrol times, ever?” Bart asked.

Jaime shook his head. “I’m always night, and Zatanna is always day. It’s best for her to be up in the day anyways, because if she’s kidnapped again, she’ll have the entire tribe to witness it. Besides, with my armor, I blend in with the night better.”

“Doesn’t it ever get lonely?” Bart asked.

“Well, not with you around. You should be asleep, in fact.” Jaime said. Bart shrugged.

“Don’t need too much of it anymore.”

Jaime nodded in acknowledgement. Valor began to fly away from the tree branch he was on. Jaime looked concerned. “Where is he going?”

“Probably to fill up his steam ball.” Bart said. “He’ll be back by morning.”

“Steam ball?” Jaime raised an eyebrow.

“Oh, right. I never really told you about how Valor works. I didn’t build him, as you know, but yeah.” Bart said, “I’ll show you tomorrow once he’s back.”

“That’d be nice.” Jaime said.

The galloping of a horse was heard, and Jaime immediately armored up. He could see a man with a lantern on a steed, and he stopped just a hundred feet away from the camp.

“Lex Luthor.” Jaime grumbled, and flew over. Bart followed.

Bart noticed the man on the horse was the fat man that was making a speech at Zatanna’s near-execution. He clenched his fists.

“Lex Luthor. What do you want?” Jaime demanded.

Lex laughed, his belly moving like jelly as he did. He removed the hand that wasn't holding the lantern from the horse's reins, took off his hat, and underneath, you could see he was completely bald. He bowed and put his hat back on. He wiped a tear from his eye and removed his monocle on the other eye to wipe that one. “Always so hostile, aren’t we, Blue Beetle?!” he continued to laugh, “I am not here to pick a fight, do not worry. Do I look like a solider to you?” he looked over to Bart, “And who is this fine gentleman here with us tonight? He doesn’t look like he belongs here. Are you being held captive, son?”

“He’s one of us.” Jaime hissed, “Now tell us what you want.”

“Be patient, Blue Beetle! Allow me to introduce myself to the new fellow.” Lex Luthor insisted, and his free hand reached out for Bart. Bart reluctantly shook it. “I am Lex Luthor, mayor of Windland. Here’s me in my younger years.” Lex Luthor pulled out what seemed like a flipbook of grainy, black and white photos of when he was actually skinny. He was still bald, though. He put his lantern near the photos so Bart could see. “Now, what is your name?”

“Bart.”

“Ah, Bart. It was nice meeting you. Anyways, gentlemen, I came here tonight to give you an opportunity.” Lex Luthor explained.

“And that is?” Jaime’s eyes narrowed.

“I understand we’ve had some difficulties in the past when it came to interacting with one another- Windland wants the land, and you won’t give it up. However, in town, we’ve been experiencing some… problems.”

“Problems?” Bart asked.

“Ah, yes, problems. A trio of outlaws who call themselves _Red Hood and The Outlaws_ have been corrupting and disturbing the towns of the west for years. It was only a matter of time before they hit Windland. We’re being attacked often, our men are dying, and we need somebody to take them out.”

“And that somebody is us.” Jaime assumed, and he folded his arms.

“Precisely! If you manage to kill them, we will allow you to keep your land.”

Jaime seemed surprised by this.

Lex Luthor smiled. He pulled a file out of his coat, and handed it to Bart. “Inside here is everything you need to know about the trio. Do you accept this deal?”

Jaime and Bart looked at each other. Jaime then looked at Lex Luthor. “No games? No catch?”

The mayor shook his head. “Absolutely not. If you take all three out, the land you have will stay yours.”

“Alright, ese,” Jaime got up in Lex Luthor’s face, “you better be telling the truth. My friends and I will take out your trash, sure. However,” he paused, “if you even _think_ of attacking us and try to take our land away after the deed is done, I will find you, I will kill you, and I will take your head and attach it to a pole for your entire pathetic little town to see. And if they attack us after that, I will go your town and blow it up into bits until everything and everybody is nothing but a pile of dust. Do you hear me?”

Lex Luthor seemed shocked, and he chuckled nervously. “Of course! Windland promises to leave you alone.”

Jaime stuck out his hand. “Then it’s a deal.”

Lex Luthor shook it, and Bart could see his hand shaking.

“Well, I’m to be off, then. Have a goodnight, gentlemen, and I wish you luck. Come now, Mercy, let’s exit.” he snapped the reins of his horse and she turned around galloped off. Bart and Jaime watched as the light from Luthor’s lantern began to get smaller and smaller in the distance.

“You’re scary.” Bart finally said. “I’m not even Lex Luthor and I was getting scared.”

“Yeah, I really don’t like talking like that.” Jaime admitted as his armor began to shed off of his body. “But I had to get my point across.”

“Do you want to look at this?” Bart asked, holding up the file that was handed to him.

“In the morning. Put it in the tepee and go to bed.” Jaime commanded.

Bart nodded and sped off inside, quickly covering himself in the buffalo hide once again before falling asleep.


	8. The Tale Of The Outlaws (PT 4)

"You want to build Bart a suit." Barry said as Dick sat in his office.

"Yeah." Dick said, "Barry. We're going to see him again one day. I just know it."

Barry looked down, uncertain. "Hmm."

"C'mon, Barry. You've known me for a real long time. You know me. And you've gotta trust me when I say we're going to see him again. I don't know where, I don't know when, but I just _know."_ Dick insisted, "Besides, even if we never see him again, isn't STAR Labs about pushing the boundaries of science? The building of the suit will do just that."

Barry looked up at Dick. "Alright," he said, "Luckily for you, I've already gotten him tailored for the Allen-Ognats lunch from a few days ago. Meaning, if we're gonna build him a suit, the least we can do is get the sizing right. And I think Iris would love to help. Let's go to Bruce first and get a list of what chemicals were extracted from Bart."

Dick smiled, and they both stood up.

* * *

Bart didn't need Zatanna's assistance to wake up the next morning, but she still entered the tepee.

"Bart." she said, holding the file. "Jaime told me about what happened last night before he went to bed. I've looked through this."

"What'd you find?" he asked as she sat down next to him. She opened it.

"It basically describes who these people are, and there's some sketches of them." she explained.

Bart looked through it.

The first man was Red Hood. His face was never seen, as he had a helmet that covered it. He wore leather and had lots of guns. He was classified as a human, as he "lacked evidence" for showing signs of witchcraft. He was described as about 5 ft 10 and 170 lbs. Most likely Caucasian. He was believed to be the leader of the group.

The next was Starfire. She often wore "immodest outfits", had green eyes with virtually no pupils, Caucasian but orange tinted skin. She had long, flowing, pink hair. She was about 6 ft tall and 160 lbs. She was believed to be a witch due to her looks and the supernatural powers she's displayed, which were bright green orbs that could be shot out of her hands, and she could fly.

The last was Roy Harper, but he was known as "Red Arrow". He was formerly a resident of the town _Northwood_ and worked as a servant when he was a teenager. Until he had a falling out with his father, of course, which led him to run away and then come back with vengeance with his new group of friends. He was a Caucasian with bright blue eyes, orange hair, and was about 180 lbs and 5 ft 11. He's an archer who has different types of arrows. The ones that he is known to have are the regular arrows, the arrows with poison, the arrows that explode, the arrows with nets, and the arrows with goo. Like Red Hood, he was classified as human due to his lack of evidence for witchcraft.

The last page in the file included a map that starred towns they were known to have invaded, and a list of things that were known to be stolen or destroyed.

"We have to kill _these_ people?" Bart looked up at Zatanna, disbelief in his eyes. "No wonder nobody can catch them. Look at how they're described!"

Valor soared into the tepee, looking energetic. Zatanna jumped at the sudden entrance, and Bart laughed. She spoke. "I'll show Jaime the file later, once he wakes up. I'm going to talk to Chief Shadow about this." she took the file and exited the tepee.

Bart wondered what he could do now. He didn't exactly have a "duty" in the tribe, and he met the members already. He walked out of the tepee and looked into the distance, where the town of Windland was just a speck.

Looking back and forth, he took off into the direction of the town, hiding behind the corner of the building to see what was happening. He gasped as he heard an explosion and the screams of civilians beginning as they began run. The entrance of the town bank was smoking, and something zipped out of the entrance. Soon after, two people ran out with bags in their hands.

In front of the bank, bags of money were laid out and three people were laughing. Bart gasped.

_It was them._

How was he supposed to kill them? He didn't have any weapons.

"People of Windland," Red Hood began to call out, "you see this here? This is your money." he gestured to the bag, "This stupid, green shit. You all love it so much." he threw his hands in the air and looked at the crowd of scared people watching, "Well, you know what they say! If you love something, let it go! Star." he turned his head to Starfire.

Starfire blasted one of her green orbs at the pile of money, setting it afire. The people gasped.

Bart ran out. "Hey!"

Red Hood laughed. "And who is this little hero?" he pulled out a pistol and shot at him. "A dead one!" he yelled into the crowd.

"Uh… Ja- Hood?" Red Arrow asked quietly.

"Yes?" Red Hood turned to him.

"You missed. He's standing right there." Red Arrow pointed to the man who stood even closer now, a bemused look on his face, arms crossed.

"I-" Red Hood grumbled. He turned to Bart again, shooting, and again, he missed. Bart had moved even closer now. " _What the fuck?"_

He continued to shoot wildly, and the crowd ran, Red Hood getting frustrated as Bart missed every shot. Starfire and Red Arrow joined, shooting their orbs and arrows to try and hit Bart. Red Hood then cried out in pain as he felt himself get punched in the face and fall backwards. Bart dragged him away from his friends to the other side of town. Bart grabbed his gun, and pointed it directly at Red Hood's head.

"You know, I've never killed somebody before. And honestly, this is nerve-wracking. But I've gotta do what I've gotta- I'm monologuing, aren't I?" Bart asked. He was about to pull the trigger when he cried out in pain as he fell over from one of Starfire's orbs. He screamed as he felt his skin sizzle, and he could see lime green seeping into his body.

Red Hood grabbed his gun back and shot at Bart, but the bullet went directly into the ground. Bart had managed to run away, but he was limping, holding his arm as he did. He gasped for breath.

Starfire threw another orb, and he screamed as he barely dodged it, falling to the ground as it exploded above him, directly into the restaurant he ate in when he first arrived to Windland. Red Arrow released an arrow directly towards Bart's head, and Bart grumbled in annoyance as he felt himself entangled in a net. "Dammit, wrong one!" he could hear Red Arrow yell.

"No, no. It's perfect." Red Hood walked up to Bart, and he got down on one knee, smiling at him. Bart gasped for air. Though he couldn't see it, Bart knew Red Hood was smiling.

"Nighty-night, hero boy."

x

Bart woke up inside a dark cave, strapped down to a chair that was cemented into the ground. He was about to vibrate so the ropes that held him down would burn off, when Red Arrow walked up to him.

"Name?"

"Bart Allen." Bart replied.

Roy stared at him for a few seconds. "You wouldn't happen to be related to Iris West, right?"

"Why do you ask?"

"Answer the question."

"I am. She's my grandma." Bart said, figuring he had nothing to lose, because Red Arrow was going to die soon enough.

"Ah." he said.

"How do you know about Iris?" Bart asked.

"None of your business." Roy spat. Bart could feel himself getting angry.

"Who're you working for?"

"I'm not working for anybody."

"Bullshit."

Bart got even angrier. "Why didn't you and your friends kill me back there?"

"Ransom." Roy said simply. Bart had to admit, that was a good reason. But there was still a flaw.

"I thought you guys didn't care for money. You destroyed it all back there."

"We're not asking for money for ransom. We're asking for goods. Food." Roy explained. He then asked again. "Who're you working for?"

Bart bit his lip. "Lex Luthor." it felt strange saying that.

"Oh?" Roy cocked an eyebrow, "Why'd he hire you?"

"To kill you and your friends." Bart bluntly stated.

Roy laughed. " _You?"_ he asked. "But you're just a… you're just…" he started to laugh.

Bart was so angry that his ropes burned right off, and he threw Roy against the wall so hard that he was knocked unconscious.

"Hold it." Red Hood commanded, a gun pointed directly at him.

"You know I'll dodge every bullet you shoot at me." Bart said, starting to get cocky.

"Which is why my lovely lady is right here." Starfire strutted up from behind him, her arm extended with a green orb around her hand, and she leaned in to give Red Hood a kiss on the side of his helmet.

Bart stood still. They were blocking the rest of the narrow cave. Bart looked behind him, and there was nothing but a dead end.

"Sit." Red Hood commanded.

"I'm not your dog." Bart sneered.

" _Sit."_ Red Hood commanded, this time more irritated. The green orb that Starfire had lit began to pulse.

Bart sat back down in his chair. "I'm sitting." he said, looking over to the unconscious Roy.

"Good. Now you'll stay there." Red Hood said. "Star. Keep watch." he walked away.

Starfire nodded, her pupil-less eyes digging into Bart. He shifted uncomfortably.

He could probably vibrate out of this cave if he really wanted to. He imagined a thick layer of stone would be difficult to get through, though. He thought about it. Eventually he decided to just do it. Starfire attempted to shoot him but to no avail, as he was already gone.

Vibrating through the stone took a lot of energy out of him. And took his clothes, too. He shivered, as it was cold. The air up here was thin, and he looked down. They were on top of a small mountain, it seemed. As he'd fallen to the ground once he got out of the cave, he was about to push himself back up when he felt a heavy boot shove him back to the ground. He heard Red Hood laughing uncontrollably.

Bart, too exhausted to even try to run away, just lay there, humiliated, as Red Hood tried to control his laughter, boot still on Bart's back. He then heard the laughter of Starfire as well.

"Come on, get up." he said, slinging Bart's arm over his shoulder, and Bart just groaned. "By the way, nice ass." he commented, "I'm sure your husband must love it." he then started laughing uncontrollably again, and Starfire did as well. Red Hood handed Bart off to her, and she flew back in the entrance of the cave with him in her arms. He blacked out again before she even set him down.

When he woke up, he had his clothes back on and he was placed back in the chair, but without restraints. Roy was holding a packet of ice by his head and watching him, a scornful look on his face.

Bart thought about what he could do. He obviously couldn't vibrate through stone without collapsing with exhaustion, but perhaps he could manage to vibrate through the front entrance of the cave, which was metal. He'd lose his clothes again, he knew, but it was worth getting out.

So, again, he ran. He ran until he saw the entrance, and he ran straight out without any problems. However, he couldn't manage to slow down in time, and ran right off the mountain the cave was on. He screamed as he tumbled down, his exposed body getting scraped up and bruised by the rocks and plants. He finally stopped at the bottom, and he sat there, breathing heavily, watching the blood from his cuts pour out. He looked up in the sky, and he saw Starfire soaring down directly towards him.

Bart screamed once again and ran, and he barely managed to avoid the starblasts that Starfire was sending down at him. The grey sky above them began to pour rain, and he grumbled as he continued to run and get soaked. He had no idea where he was or no idea where to head next.

He saw a body of water and dived in, and as he swam towards the bottom, he could see one of Starfire's blasts launch and explode into the water. The shock wave from the blast sent Bart tumbling further down the water, and more blasts were sent. Now too far away to be affected by them, Bart used the blasts to his advantage- they temporarily illuminated the water in a green hue, and Bart could see a cave with an air bubble. It was only halfway filled with water. He swam into it, then gasped for air as he surfaced.

He watched as the starblasts illuminated the body of water for a few more moments, then everything went dark.

Bart sat there, cold, and still gasping for air. He knew he had to swim out, so he felt his way around the cave until he found the entrance. He held his breath and swam out and up the darkness, until he surfaced, and once again, gasped for air.

Around him were the floating corpses of fish.

He quickly swam out of the water, shivering as the rain bombarded him. He had no energy to run, and he tried to vibrate to warm himself up, but he couldn't. He limped and shivered, convinced he was going to die.

He collapsed and gave up. How stupid he was to try and handle Red Hood and The Outlaws by himself. Now he was going to die cold, alone, and naked to put the cherry on top. His stomach growled. Make that two cherries.

What seemed like hours passed. He heard a noise behind him, and he moaned in pain as he felt himself be picked up. He didn't want to open his eyes, because he knew it was Starfire.

"Come on. Let's get you back to the tribe."

Bart opened his eyes and looked up to Jaime, fully covered in his armor, holding him.

"I'm so stupid." Bart mumbled.

"Yeah. You are." Jaime agreed before taking off.

x

Bart was healed by Zatanna and got some fresh clothes. Apparently Jaime had been flying around all day looking for Bart, and Khaji Da finally spotted him below.

"So you were just bored, so you ran off to Windland?" Jaime asked as he handed Bart dinner after Bart explained what happened. The rain hadn't let up and a fire couldn't be started, so it was a cold bowl of food.

"Yeah. And when I saw The Outlaws there, I thought I could take them all by myself. I almost killed Red Hood, but I was monologuing." Bart explained.

Jaime slapped himself in the face. "I think the tribe regarding you as a 'God' has gotten to your head."

"Probably." Bart said.

Jaime sighed, "At least we know where one of their bases are. I mean, you had to go through a lot of suffering to find out, but at least we know."

"A _lot_ of suffering." Bart emphasized. "Thank God Zatanna exists."

Jaime nodded. "She's a good addition." he then frowned. "But I'm still thinking about what Roy asked."

"The question of whether or not I was related to Iris?" Bart asked.

Jaime nodded. "Yeah. That. Makes me wonder if he's friends with the Wests. And there's lots of Wests in the west."

"I honestly think Iris is the only West in the east. The Allens are the eastern people. Roy knew this." Bart insisted, "He knew Allens meant east, and Iris was the only eastern West."

"So he knows you're not from here." Jaime concluded. "Maybe we could track down some of your family and question them about him. Maybe they could reveal things about him, like places where he likes to hide, and hopefully about the other two as well."

Bart nodded, going along with it.

"However, tonight, you're going to have to lead me to that cave and we'll get inside and see what's there. If The Outlaws are there, we're going to try and kill them."

"What about Zatanna?" Bart asked.

"She'll stay here. She needs to, anyways. In case we're injured, she can heal us. If she went, well, it's not good when your healer is injured." Jaime explained. "Rest up. We'll leave in a few hours."

Bart did just that.

x

By nightfall, the rain had let up. Jaime woke Bart up, and they ran and flew up to the mountain and to the cave. They stood on the side of it, peeking around the corner to the entrance. When all was clear, Jaime walked up the front, and just stood there.

"What are you doing?" Bart asked. Jaime shushed him.

"They're not inside." he said, disappointment in his voice. He sighed, looking bored as he pulled out a plasma cannon and shot the door open. He walked inside, and Bart followed.

Inside the cave there wasn't much except a few empty wood boxes and Bart's now-seared clothes that were left behind when he vibrated through the door. He looked around, and saw one of Red Hood's guns, except it looked cracked and nearly broken in half. "This worth taking?" he asked. Jaime shook his head. The chair was still there as it was cemented to the concrete, of course, but that was it.

"I guess it's time we start visiting your family." Jaime said. Bart looked out of the cave and into the world in front of him.

"Tonight?" he asked.

"Tonight." Jaime nodded. "But first, we've got to pay a visit to Lex Luthor."

Bart grumbled, but Jaime was already flying away, and he dashed after him.

x

The fat mayor yawned as he heard the knocking on his door. He opened it up and his eyes filled with fear, but he pretended to be cheery. "Gentlemen!" he said, "What brings you here today?"

"Got an office in here, Luthor?" Jaime asked.

"Ah… yes. Why?"

"Bring us to it." Jaime commanded.

Lex reluctantly nodded as he let the two inside and shut the door. On his way to leading Bart to his office, he began to mumble a thank you to Bart about protecting the town today, and then mumbled an apology in regards to him being kidnapped.

They arrived in the office, and Lex pulled a lamp cord to softly illuminate the room. Everything in the room was tiny- tiny chair, tiny desk, tiny filing cabinets.

"We need to know where all of the people with the last name West are located. Do you have any files of that?" Jaime asked.

Lex's eyes lit up. "Ah, the Wests! Of course we have files on them, they're the richest people in the land. Many go to them for trade opportunities." he began to go through his filing cabinets, until he pulled out a cream colored folder and opened it up, going through the papers before finding one that showed where all of the Wests lived, and there were a lot of them. "The closest West is this man, Wallace West. He lives in the next town over, Northwood."

Both Jaime and Bart looked at each other, connecting Wallace's location with where Roy Harper used to work as a servant. Jaime grabbed the paper. "Thank you." was all he said. "Come on Bart, let's go." he began to speed out of the office.

"But we don't have a map!" Bart yelled after him.

"Where the hell do you think Northwood is?! _North!"_ Jaime insisted, "And we have Wallace's address right here. We'll be fine, ese."

"Have a good night, gentlemen!" Lex said as he shut the front door behind him, leaving Bart and Jaime on the porch.

They flew and ran north until they did stumble upon the town of Northwood. They slowed down once they entered the town. This was a town of rich folk, judging by the sheer size of the houses. They even had electric street lights. Jaime shed his armor as they walked down one of the streets and began to locate Wallace's house. Finally, they stood in front of it, and lots of voices and music could be heard from the inside, and the entire damn house was illuminated.

"Think he's having a party?" Bart asked.

"No doubt." Jaime said. They walked up the many steps to the front door, and knocked.

A blonde woman in her mid-twenties opened the door. She had olive skin, grey eyes, her lips were cherry red, she wore a frilly red dress that matched, and her hair was done up in curls. She leaned against the door frame.

"Is this the West household?" Jaime asked.

"Sure is, sweetheart. What are you here for? You two look kind of…" she looked Bart and Jaime up and down, scanning their clothing. "...barbaric."

Bart rolled his eyes. "We're not barbaric. We're here to talk to Wallace."

"Well, why didn't you say so?!" she chuckled, then hiccuped, obviously buzzed. "He's my husband!" she turned away from the door frame and shouted inside, "Wally, baby, come here. A couple of men out here wanna talk to you."

Wally came up, obviously a lot more intoxicated than his wife. He had fiery red hair, a crisp, white tuxedo on, and emerald green eyes. "Now what are you two fellows just doing standing there?! Come on in, join the party!" he broke into a fit of laughter and gestured for Bart and Jaime to come inside.

The place was huge. Not as big as the manor or the Allen mansion, but it was huge. People in formal attire sat down, drinking wine or champagne. A band played in the corner. Wally led him to his office and closed the door, where the noise was muffled.

"Go on, sit." Wally encouraged, gesturing to the two chairs that were placed in front of his desk. They did. He sat down in his desk, spinning around. "So, what's crackalackin?"

"We wanted to ask about Roy Harper." Jaime said.

It seemed like that sentence seemed to sober up Wally for a moment, but then he was dragged back into his drunken haze. He bent down into one of his lower drawers in his desk, and spoke as he was down there. "Roy Harper? Yeah, I know him. He was my man!" he came back up and pulled out two glasses and a bottle of champagne. "Would you two gentlemen like a drink?"

Both Bart and Jaime rejected, but Wally insisted that they have a glass, so they did. As Wally was pouring them their drinks, he spoke. "What'dya wanna know 'bout Roy?"

"What do you mean he was your man?" Jaime asked once Wally finished pouring and began to put the bottle away. He took his drink and sipped, then winced. Bart did the same, and he understood why. It was almost fizzy, but it didn't taste too amazing.

"My father hired him as a servant when I was a teenager. Roy and I became best a' friends, we were such shitheads." he laughed.

"You were?" Jaime inquired.

"Yup. Until he ran off with his little group, of course." Wally said, "He tried to get me into it, but I'm not like that."

"He did?" Bart asked in surprise. "Did he show or tell you anything that was considered a secret?"

"Well, yeah." Wally said.

"What'd he say?"

Wally hesitated. "Well, I can't exactly go around telling this stuff to random people…"

"I'm not random. We're related." Bart insisted.

"Hmm? How's that?" Wally seemed interested.

"Your aunt- Iris West, now Iris Allen- is my grandmother. I'm Bart Allen. Son of Don Allen, whose father was Barry Allen, whose wife is Iris."

"Oh jeez, well if that's the case, you're still just a kiddo then! How old are you?"

"Sixteen."

Wally laughed, "Shoulda never given you champagne, but whatever. Who's your friend over here?"

"Jaime." Jaime answered for himself.

"And how old are you?"

"Nineteen."

"Ah, alright. I guess I'm not _too much_ of an outlaw myself, then." Wally laughed at his own joke. "Why are you two so interested in Roy?"

Jaime and Bart looked at each other, not sure whether or not they should tell Wally the truth or not. Bart went ahead. "We've been hired by the town of Windland to assassinate him and his friends. We need to know any place they can be hidden, or any extra secrets."

"Thought so. Nobody talks about Roy Harper these days without an intent to kill him, and I honestly can't blame 'em." Wally said almost sober, pouring himself a glass of champagne. "I'll let you in on a secret then- I know the identity of the Red Hood."

"Really? Who is he?" Bart asked.

"His name is Jason Todd, but that's all I ever really knew. No idea where he came from." Wally admitted, "But you didn't hear this from me."

Bart sat there in surprise. Both Jaime and Wally noticed. "I know Jason," Bart said, "well, know of Jason."

"Oh yeah," Jaime said, "Didn't you mention that Dick Grayson and your grandfather told you about him?"

Bart nodded.

Jaime turned to Wally. "What else do you know?"

Wally was already back down in his desk drawer, and Bart wondered if he was pouring more alcohol for himself.

"I have a map that Roy gave me, of the locations of the hidden bases of where he and his friends were. However, this was _years_ ago." he unfolded the map and smoothed out the crinkles, "There you go. I'm not sure how much of this still applies to today."

"Thank you." Jaime said, taking the map. "Anything else?"

"Nnnnnnope." Wally said. A knocking was heard on the office door, and his wife's voice came from the other side.

"Cm'on baby, what's taking so long? Get back to the party!"

"Soon, Artemis!" he yelled to her. He turned to Bart and Jaime. "You two want to stay?"

"No, we've gotta get back home." Jaime said, "Let's head off, Bart."

Bart nodded and they left the home, quickly getting back to the Longshadow tribe.


	9. The Tale Of The Outlaws (PT 5)

Bart and Jaime told Zatanna about what had happened in the past night when the following morning came around.

They showed her the map Wally gave them.

"So we're going to go to the locations listed here." Jaime concluded.

There were six in total, all throughout the west.

"Who's gonna stay back and watch the tribe?" Zatanna asked.

"None of us. We're all going. We're all facing The Outlaws. Three versus three. Fair game." Jaime insisted. "Besides, the Longshadows aren't babies. They can protect themselves. And Valor can watch over them, like he did last night." Jaime gestured to the cog bird perching on a branch.

"He did kill a couple of coyotes last night…" Zatanna said, then sighed. "I'm just nervous about leaving them behind. This is our home, Jaime. This is the place that took us when we were shunned by everybody else. I really care about these people."

"I know." Jaime put a hand on her shoulder, "I don't want to leave them, either. But if we want any chance at saving our land, we have to leave."

"And Windland won't attack while we're gone?" Zatanna asked.

Bart pitched in. "Nah," he said, his mouth full of chicken. "He shook Lex Luthor up real good. He won't send anybody out here."

"Alright," Zatanna sighed, "When do we leave?"

"After lunch." Jaime informed.

x

They ate their lunch and said their goodbyes. Some of the women of the tribe weeped over Bart's departure, and Bart honestly had trouble saying temporarily saying goodbye to Valor- he couldn't imagine how difficult it was for Tim do such a thing permanently.

Bart could see Jaime hugging Tye, and Tye saying "Be safe, my brother." before letting him go.

Zatanna cast a spell so that she could fly, and they all took off to the first location. It was a town called _Rattlesnake_.

x

They arrived to Rattlesnake by evening, and it looked abandoned. There were few buildings. Tumbleweeds scattered everywhere, and the only noise made was from some old wind chimes. There was a railroad track that was severely rusted out, and a steam engine which was so damaged that it was to never be repaired.

As they walked down the dirt road of Rattlesnake, a strong gust of wind blew past, making a howling noise.

"I can see why they'd have a base here." Zatanna commented. "Let's try this building up here."

It was a saloon, and one of its doors was attached to only one hinge. The other was on the floor. They walked inside, the floors creaking and groaning as they did. _"Thgil gnirb."_ Zatanna uttered, and a _swish_ was heard before the chandelier attached to the ceiling ignited all of its candles. Bart found it kind of eerie.

With the light, they could see broken stools, broken bottles, an old and slightly broken piano, and a set of stairs that twirled onto a balcony. Jaime walked over to the old piano. He pressed a key. It played just fine. He continued to play the non-broken keys, all sounding in-tune. "There's something in this piano."

"Huh? What?" Bart asked.

"I don't know." Jaime admitted, "But Khaji Da is going nuts." he lifted the top of the piano, and inside it was a key and a gun, both silver and shining like new.

"What's the key to?" Zatanna asked.

"Not sure. Bart, take the gun. It's loaded." Jaime insisted. Bart went over and grabbed it, while Jaime grabbed the key and sent it over his back, and the scarab seemingly ate it.

They went to the next building. Nothing. Then the next. They stumbled across a skeleton with torn clothes leaning against a wall, and according to Jaime, it was an around forty year old human male, and he'd been sitting there for about ten years.

Bart was beginning to get freaked out. "Can't we just move on to the next town?"

"Not yet." Zatanna said, going up the stairs to the building they were in. The upstairs was a bedroom, and in the bedroom, many items were scattered. Empty cans, ripped bags, and cigarettes. There was also a bed with lots of stains on it. Bart and Jaime joined her upstairs.

The scarab scanned the stain bed without Jaime even knowing. "Oh?" Jaime suddenly asked, almost looking amused.

"What'd it find?" Zatanna asked.

"Semen."

Bart snorted.

"Lovely." Zatanna commented.

"But this is good." Jaime said, "He's saying the, uh- multiple stains of semen came from the same man. Meaning this could've been one of The Outlaw's beds that he regularly slept in."

"Gross." Bart chuckled. He then got serious. "It's probably Jason's- he seems to be in a relationship with Starfire."

"So let's keep looking throughout the room," Zatanna said.

They didn't find anything that necessarily struck them. They moved on to the next and last building, where they finally found something significant.

A message in a bottle. Jaime smashed the bottle and read the message.

"It's an undelivered message to Wally." Jaime looked over to Bart. Bart sped up to him. "Look, it's from Roy."

_March 12th, 1872_

_Dear Wally West,_

_I know I hadn't been able to convince you last time, but I really do want you to join Jason and I._

_We recently rescued a girl. She's not a human, she's an alien named Koriand'r, but prefers to be called Starfire. She claims she came here due to get away from her sister, Blackfire, on a planet called Tamaran._

_Starfire is powerful. She can fly, she can shoot beams, and she is strong. Soon enough, Starfire will allow us to conquer the entire west, have it be ours._

_Wouldn't you want that, Wally? Your entire life, you've been expected to be a good West man, to conform to the rigid rules and sophisticated lifestyle that was condemned on you from the day you were born._

_You are my best friend, Wally. I want you to be free, be free with Jason and I. Run and be free and don't feel a need to stick to any rules._

_We are currently in a town called Rattlesnake. We killed all of its inhabitants that refused to run away, and took all of their food and alcohol for ourselves. We had fun getting pissed, but in the back of my mind, I thought about how you could be there._

_We loved drinking together, didn't we?_

_Why not let it happen again?_

_Sincerely,_

_Roy_

"So they've obviously moved on from Rattlesnake." Zatanna observed. "I guess we've gotta get a move on."

x

The next town was Jesterson. Much like Rattlesnake, Jesterson had no inhabitants. The base they came across was in the library, which was locked. Jaime pulled out the key he grabbed and unlocked the door. The library had no books; it was loaded to the brim with an arsenal and food supply. There was a note hammered to the inside of the library door.

**LAST STOCK PUT-IN: April 19th, 1883.**

**WHAT WAS PUT-IN: 12 arrows, 3 bags of potato chips.**

**LAST STOCK REMOVAL: April 22nd, 1883.**

**WHAT WAS REMOVED: 4 pistols + 12 rounds of ammo, 6 arrows, 5 cans of beans.**

"Recent." Bart noticed.

"So this is where they got everything throughout the years." Zatanna's fingers slid across one of the many arrows that were held in a wooden box.

"And I'm sure it isn't the only one." Jaime insisted.

"Can we eat?" Bart's stomach growled as he looked at the beans and chips that were nearby.

"Sure." Jaime said, and Bart dove right into the food. They all took a moment to just relax, sit back, and enjoy the food. They didn't have any water to wash it down with, only liquor. Luckily, Zatanna was like a reverse-Jesus, and turned the liquor into some fresh water. They finished eating.

"If we want to efficiently take down The Outlaws," Jaime said, "We have to take out their arsenal. So let's grab the rest of the food and get out of here. I'm going to blow up the library after we finish exploring the rest of this town."

They did explore, and found nothing significant except some bloodstains, to which Khaji Da scanned and saved the DNA from.

Zatanna encased herself and Bart into a protective bubble, and Jaime used both of his arms to form one large cannon which shot at the library, making it go up in blue flames. Bart could hear the sounds of unused bullets going off inside the library underneath the roaring fire.

They were all beginning to get tired, so they traveled a bit longer, found a stream, and laid down by it. For a few minutes, they stared up at the stars, and just talked.

"Do you think The Outlaws are still in Windland?" Zatanna asked.

"Definitely." Jaime said, "Or at least near it. But by destroying where they have to run off to, they'll soon have no place to hide."

"Starfire's an alien." Bart commented out of the blue.

The other two looked at him, confused as to why he suddenly brought it up.

"Starfire's an alien." Bart repeated, then continued, "For the first fifteen years of my life, I never thought of anything as really 'alien'." he said, "But only two months into my sixteenth, I've already seen three things. The first was the green gem in Barry's lab. The second was Khaji Da. Now the third is Starfire. All of those came from up in the sky, and people assume- or in the gem's case, _would assume-_ they're from down below, as in Hell. Has anybody, even just one person, ever thought, ' _Maybe I'm looking in only one direction_ '? They're looking at the Hell when they don't even know the sky exists." Bart said. "And I feel like this is where a lot of this is stemmed from. The whites trying to conquer the land of the Natives. Have they ever considered why Natives live the way they do? Have Natives ever considered the whites live the way they do? Surely there has to be benefits and disadvantages to both, but it seems like neither side is considering the other side's reasoning, they're only looking at their one direction and saying that's that." Bart took a breath, "In a way that medicine developed by laboratories couldn't harm a Native, a few less buildings couldn't harm a white man."

"Are you saying we shouldn't even bother saving the Longshadows?" Zatanna asked.

"No, of course not." Bart insisted, "I'm saying that even though we might get our land back for now, it won't be that way forever. Eventually there has to be a compromise somewhere. What will this place look like in a hundred years? Two hundred years? Has anybody ever even thought that far ahead?"

"I don't know." Zatanna admitted.

"Khaji Da has a prediction for a hundred years." Jaime informed.

"Really? What does he think?" Bart asked.

"He thinks with the way things are going, the whites will take over ninety-five percent of the land and use it to set up their way of life, but there'll be a select few acres of land left for the Natives to live peacefully. That's the five percent. So there's hardly a compromise there." Jaime said.

"Well, none of us are going to be here in a hundred years." Zatanna said, "So we'll never really know."

"He will." Jaime said, "He's had different hosts before me, thousands of years before me, and he'll continue after my body dies. He's seen a lot of stuff."

They talked for a few more minutes before deciding to head off to bed. It was a colder night, so Bart and Zatanna huddled together for warmth while Jaime kept his armor on, yet again sleeping like a dog.

x

The next morning, they ate some of their food before heading to the third location, Belleville.

Belleville wasn't abandoned, and seemed to have a similar population and business to Windland. They couldn't really do anything about it due to that, and moved onto the next town.

x

" _The Cove"_ didn't exist.

Well, what was left of it was simply piles of rubble.

x

The fourth town, Greenland, was abandoned in itself, though there was a nearby farm to where they could see people working in the fields. They found a few unloaded guns that were similar in models to the one inside the piano in Rattlesnake, but that was it.

x

The last town, Old York City, was abandoned and judging by how it only had two buildings, never had a population over 12. It didn't even have a railroad.

But of course, with this little town came a big arsenal. One that was destroyed soon after upon discovery, and the note that was on the inside of its door was even more recent than the one in Jesterson- apparently, the last time something had been taken out was three weeks ago.

"Now what?" Bart asked. "All we found were some weapons, food, and a letter from Roy to Wally."

"We've destroyed two arsenals and that's good." Jaime insisted. "But we haven't found The Outlaws themselves. I get a feeling they're going to be coming back here real soon, as this arsenal is closer to Windland than the one in Jesterson."

"And they probably have more than two." Zatanna said. "Well, we've done what we needed to do. Let's head back to the Longshadows."

x

All three were very relieved to find out that nothing bad had happened to the tribe during their two day trip. A few teenagers from Windland had tried to scare the tribe, but before they could even enter the camp, Valor sent them running.

The trio decided that they'd spend disguise themselves as people of Windland, so that they could be there if and when The Outlaws attacked again.

Zatanna cast a spell on all of them, and they suddenly looked like triplets- light skin with bright blue eyes and hair so blonde it was nearly yellow. Zatanna summoned money to rent a hotel room, telling the clerk about how they were brothers and sister, travelers from Germany.

Their room was small with only two beds. Bart immediately jumped in the nearest one and mumbled about how much he missed sleeping in a bed.

They kept their blinds open to look out into the streets of Windland. Nothing. Now they just needed to occupy themselves.

Like the money, Zatanna summoned cards, and they played games for a few hours. Later that night, they decided to go out to the saloon and drink. It was a pretty cheery atmosphere, and the music roared throughout the building. As Bart and Jaime were in the middle of laughing about how Zatanna broke a fellow's fingers when he wouldn't back off on his advancements towards her, the doors swung open, and everything seemed to stop at once. The laughter stopped. The talking stopped. The walking stopped. The music stopped. The pouring of drinks stopped.

Everything stopped at the sight of The Outlaws entering.

Jason moved up to the bartender.

"Sorry we're late to the party. We had to freshen up a little." he then took out a gun and pointed it at the clerk. "Give us all of your booze."

The bartender didn't hesitate, stacking up bottles on the counter. Bart, Jaime, and Zatanna all looked at each other.

Bart ran, and he grabbed Jason's gun from his hand and unloading it before throwing it out the window, shattering the glass. Both Jason and the bartender stood in shock.

"That fucker again!" he yelled, and turned around. "He's here! Star, I thought you killed him!"

"I did!" Starfire exclaimed, and suddenly Zatanna yelled.

" _Taolf meht ekam!"_

Starfire, Red Arrow, and Red Hood all began to hover in the air, and couldn't get back down. The men in the saloon saw this as an opportunity to pull out their guns and shoot the bandits, but as Roy hovered, he shot an explosive arrow at them, killing a few. The survivors ran out of the building within seconds.

Bart, Jaime, and Zatanna all had their disguises poof away like dust, and Roy shot whatever arrows he could at them. Starfire joined, shooting orbs. Jason pulled a second gun out of his leather coat and joined in.

"Don't you have some sort of paralysing spell?" Bart yelled as he barely avoided a goo arrow.

"I do, but I have to-" Zatanna yelped as an orb exploded behind her, " _-concentrate!"_

"The buildings gonna come down!" Jaime yelled above all of the noise. Zatanna yelled the same spell she used for her protective bubble back in Jesterson, and as the ceiling in the saloon began to cave in, Jaime jumped on top of Bart.

He coughed as he removed the pieces of wood above him and looked out into the sky. He grabbed Bart and pulled him up. He seemed disoriented, but unscathed.

Starfire had burst up from the rubble suddenly, seemingly enraged. Her hair looked as if it were on fire, her teeth were bared, and she had pulsing green orbs in her hands.

"The spell broke. Zatanna's unconscious." was all Jaime could say before he was struck by the orb.

Bart ran around like a maniac avoiding Starfire's orbs. The only thing he could think in his head was " _Not again, not again, not again, not again!"_

Jaime got up and threw a plasma blast at her, which threw her off balance, but didn't take her down.

Jaime then tried his sonic cannon, which had no effect on the alien girl. Bart stood and watched as Jaime and Starfire battled it out, unsure what to do next. Rescue Zatanna? Help Jaime? But by the time he was about to make a decision, he heard a whistling, and he barely avoided an arrow to the back of his head. His ear was bleeding, though. He turned around, ran up to Roy, and savagely attacked him with all of his might. Punching him, kicking him, breaking his arrows and bow, and with how fast he was doing it, Roy didn't have time to react.

It was over within a matter of seconds.

Roy Harper had been beaten to death.

Bart gasped for air, and looked over to how Jaime was doing. He was getting tired, he knew, and Zatanna still needed to be rescued. He went to go get her, when he saw Jason emerging from the rubble.

He saw his dead friend, and looked at Bart, who was still catching his breath.

" _You!"_ he yelled.

Bart let him run to him. Bart smiled at him. "You're next."

"What? You think I'm gonna try and kill you?" Jason asked, and he began to walk closer. "I didn't want you dead last time. Why would I want you dead now?"

"I beat your friend to death."

"Sure you did, but shit happens." Jason got close. So close that their noses were almost touching. Bart didn't flinch. "I'm not going to kill you." he reassured. He then brought up his gun to Bart's leg and pulled the trigger. Bart cried out in pain and fell to the ground. Jason leaned down, and whispered into Bart's ear. "I'm just gonna make it so you _wish_ you were dead." Jason shot Bart again, once in his three remaining limbs. Bart yelped as he was picked up.

" _Jaime! Zatanna!"_ he screamed. " _Help!"_

But Jaime was too preoccupied with Starfire to notice, and Zatanna was still unconscious.

Bart didn't black out this time, but he sure wished he did.

x

Jason brought him to a base that wasn't on the map that Wally gave him. It was underground, and its entrance was hidden by shrubs. Jason threw Bart on the ground. Bart snarled at him, and Jason kicked him in the face. "Shut up."

"What benefit will keeping me alive have to you?" Bart challenged.

Jason just smirked. "Because you're Bart Allen."

"What?"

"Don't think I don't know what happened with you in New York, Allen." Jason said, and he took off his helmet, placing it on the same dusty shelf he took a bottle of liquor out of. He opened it. "If you think about it, we're not too different."

"Fuck off. I'm not a witch and I didn't mean to scare anybody." Bart sneered.

"Oh, I know you're not." Jason relaxed in a chair. "I'm Jason Todd, but you've probably figured that out."

Bart nodded.

Jason continued to speak. "I worked at STAR Labs too, once, y'know. I'm honestly not surprised something freaky like you was bound to happen because of it. Let me guess. Something in Barry's lab?"

Bart looked down. "Yes. But why do _you_ care?"

"Hated that fucker." Jason took a swig of his drink. "I don't think it's just a coincidence that we both worked at STAR and ended up in the same place in the west. I think we were meant to be a team."

" _What?"_

"In a way, I'm kind of glad you killed Roy." Jason admitted, "The guy was good with his arrows, but outside of battle, it was constantly this- ' _O Wally! How I wish you were here, my Wallace. I miss you and must reunite. Jason, may we please allow him in? May I please just try to convince my Wally one more time to join us?'_ The man was such a fucking queer. For years and years, he just went on about _Wally,_ how badly he wanted _Wally_ to be there."

He smiled and took another swig. "But now Roy's gone. You fucking killed him. And I think you'd be a nice replacement."

"No." Bart groaned.

"Why not? How much money is Lex Luthor even paying you, anyways? Because as far as I'm concerned, no amount of money is worth all of the freedom you'd have rolling with me."

"It's not about money. He's not paying me in money." Bart said.

"Oh?" Jason smirked at him, "What's going on, then?"

"I need to do it. To protect the Longshadows. The tribe that took me in. I need to do it for my friends who love the tribe so much." Bart explained. "Lex Luthor said that if we killed you all, he'd leave the tribe alone. He'd stop trying to take the land they owned."

Jason almost choked on his vodka because he was laughing so hard. "Holy shit, are you that fucking dumb? Are you really taking that fatass's word for it? You're his proxy! He's gonna have you and your friends kill me and my friends, and then he's gonna have his big boys take you out. Think about it! The joke's gonna be on you!"

Bart seemed embarrassed and didn't respond.

"Come run with me, Bart. I'll tell you what. Me, you, and your friends, we'll destroy the town of Windland together, united. And then your tribe will have all of the land they want. You don't have to take unnecessary measures just to get what you want." Jason insisted.

"Really?" Bart began to laugh, and he noticed his wounds were healing. "What I want? I want to be back in Chicago, with my _alive_ parents." he sighed. "I was so ungrateful. Complaining about having to marry this girl I didn't want to marry. At least I had a secure life ahead. Now it seems like I've got an array of problems."

"Tell me about it." Jason encouraged.

"I almost killed myself when my grandpa Barry knocked on my door." Bart explained, "I'm not joking. I had the gun in my mouth, about to pull the trigger, and the next thing I know, grandpa Barry is knocking on my door, and I answered him. I should've ignored his knocking and pulled it anyways. I regret it. I regret it more than arguing with my dad hours before his death."

"Sounds like you've had a tough time, kiddo." Jason nodded. "I get it. I get it." he pulled out one of his guns and tossed it to Bart, who was now leaning against the wall. "Well, there's your gun. If you want to shoot yourself, go ahead. I won't judge you."

Bart looked at the pistol next to him. "I can't." he said, "It's too late."

"It's never too late." Jason insisted.

"It is." Bart argued, "I can't kill myself now. I have to be there for the tribe, for Jaime and Zatanna."

"Jaime? That's Blue Beetle's name?" Jason asked. Bart nodded.

"Well, Bart, it seems like we've connected in some way. So, what do you think about the destruction of Windland?" Jason asked.

"I'd be up to it." Bart admitted, "But getting the other two on board, I'm not sure about."

The base door opened, and a very tired and injured Starfire entered. "I can't kill him." she grumbled, "His armor won't let me. _Blorgnaf!"_

Bart didn't know what the word meant, but by the way she said it, he guessed it was some sort of Tamaranian cuss. She gasped at the sight of Bart.

"Hello, darling. Bart and I were just having a lovely conversation." Jason said, his green eyes meeting hers.

"Why is he alive?!" she yelled.

"Cool it, Starfire. Everything's gonna be fine." Jason promised, "Come, take a seat. Bart's a nice guy." he then looked at Bart, a confused expression coming across his face. "You know Dick Grayson, right?"

"Yeah, he was my best friend." Bart said.

Jason snorted. "And that's where we differ." he sighed, "You see, Bart, if Barry or Dick have ever mentioned me to you-"

"They have." Bart interrupted.

"-they probably made me out to be some evil little Satan spawn, a do-no-good. Well, you see, I wasn't very happy at STAR." Jason explained, "I hated the repetitive schedule of it. I hated the organization, the uptightness about it. Everything was so formal and had the be top-notch all of the time, and it was getting old. When I was sent off to boarding school, I took my chance, and escaped that. I continued to live my life, but one with adventure and liberty. Not with fucking steam bullshit."

"I liked STAR." Bart insisted, "I liked being there. I liked working there."

"You were only there for how long? A month, maybe? I was there for _years."_ Jason growled, "It breaks a man. It really does." he sighed, "You're lucky you got out when you did. Had you been trapped in a place like New York City with all of that speed, you would've gone insane. The west is free, full of open space, great for running. What happened to you was a happy accident."

"It wasn't!" Bart seemed offended, "I lost everything I had!"

"Really? _Everything?"_

"Well, no, I-" Bart paused, "A lot. I lost a lot."

"You lost a lot in exchange for free will." Jason pulled out a cigar and lit it.

"And that, my friend, is something you can never put a price on."


	10. The Tale Of The Outlaws (PT 6)

After Starfire took off, Jaime exhaustedly dug Zatanna out of the rubble. She was starting to come to, and looked at her surroundings; the townspeople were staring in fear and shock, and no battle was taking place. She winced at the sight of Roy's beaten, bloody corpse. "You do that?" she asked Jaime.

Jaime didn't even notice it before. He looked in her direction. "Nope. Must've been Bart."

"Where is he?" she asked.

"I'd imagine he ran back to camp. His first kill is probably taking a toll on him." Jaime said.

"Let's get back, then." Zatanna said, "I need to rest up."

He flew back to camp. The longshadows seemed to gasp at Zatanna's condition, and some of the women took her out of Jaime's hands to get her fixed up. Jaime walked into his tepee. Bart wasn't there. He looked around the camp a bit more, confused. He went into Chief Shadow's tepee. "Chief Shadow!" he said, and the tribe leader looked up from sharpening his spear.

"What is it, Jaime?"

"Do you know where Bart is?"

Chief Shadow shook his head. "I don't think he has returned yet, in fact."

"What do you mean he hasn't returned yet?" Jaime asked, concern in his voice.

"He's shown no signs of return."

Jaime grumbled in frustration, walking out of the tepee and sitting down by the fire. He realized he was still armored up, so he pulled it back. In the corner of his eye, he saw Valor looking at him with one of his magnifying glasses popped out. "Do you know where Bart is?" he asked as he turned his head to face the bird.

Valor twitched.

Jaime suddenly remembered that Bart never told him how the bird worked.

x

By morning, Bart had completely healed up. Jason and Starfire were nice enough to let him eat some of their food and stay the night in Roy's former room, and he had nice, casual conversation with the two. They were a very affectionate couple, and told Bart about how they met and how they got together. Starfire told stories of life on Tamaran, and running from her sister.

 _Maybe we're not too different after all,_ Bart concluded, _all of us can relate in the aspect of running away. The Outlaws and I are really only enemies because Lex Luthor made us. He made it so that the two forces that were against him wouldn't unite together. Jaime, Zatanna, and I are being played._

"Go and talk to your friends about the destruction of Windland, won't you, kiddo?" Jason asked. Bart nodded and smiled before he took off and back to camp.

x

Jaime was enraged after Bart told him what happened and what he and Jason talked about. So pissed off, in fact, Bart was scared that he was gonna shoot him with a plasma blast.

" _Do you even hear yourself?!"_ he screamed, " _You really want to unite with The Outlaws?! You really want to destroy Windland with them?! Why?! So we can have peace for five minutes before the next town over tries to take our land?! And you know, you talked a lot about how people only looked in one direction of life- well The Outlaws are those people! They're the ones who think it's their lifestyle or it's none at all! They're bandits, ese! They steal shit! They don't hunt, they don't sew clothes, they don't skin fish! You want to join us together because we both hate Luthor?! The enemy of your enemy is not your friend! The second the tribe wouldn't be up to murdering people to steal liquor is the second they're dead men and women! The Outlaws are bad people!"_ Jaime breathed heavily.

"But Jason made good points!" Bart retorted, "Don't you think it's odd that Luthor is trying to divide the people who are against him? Chances are he'll still go after us even if we killed The Outlaws! We're being played!"

"If you agree with _Jason_ so much, why don't you go join _him_ and _his_ crew?!" Jaime yelled.

" _I just might!"_ Bart yelled back.

Jaime was silent for a few moments. "If you join them, I'm gonna have to kill you." he warned in a low tone.

"Go on and try, Jaime. You've already tried once, I'm sure you'd do it again." Bart challenged.

Jaime didn't speak.

"Well, what are you waiting for? I officially declare myself as part of The Outlaws. Now do it."

"You're making a bad decision." Jaime warned.

"Not shooting myself in the mouth with my father's revolver was a bad decision. I've got nothing left to lose." Bart replied.

"If you insist." armor crawled up over Jaime's skin. "I have to do what's best for my tribe."

Bart laughed. "Alright! Catch me if you can." he sped off. Jaime flew after him, and they faced each other in an open area with cliffs surrounding them on either side, and they just stared at each other. A tumbleweed rolled in between them, and all was quiet.

 _What a cliche_ , Bart thought.

Jaime pulled out a sonic cannon and Bart took off, avoiding the blue rings. He began to spin around Jaime so quickly that Jaime began to float in the air and his sonic cannon went out, and he couldn't breathe. Bart stopped, and Jaime fell to the ground. Bart was dizzy, but managed to stabilize himself, and he ran towards Jaime so quickly that once Jaime sat up, he got a foot straight to the face. Due to the speed of the kick, it hurt him, even with the armor on. He fell back to the ground. Bart ran up behind him and picked up Jaime's head, and held it in a position to where if he moved it just right, Jaime's neck would snap.

"We can call off the fight now or I can break your neck. Your choice." Bart told him.

Jaime didn't respond. Instead, the antenna on his back quickly snapped around Bart's waist and began to squeeze him so tightly that he couldn't breathe.

Bart vibrated, causing the suit to malfunction and he broke free. As the suit was healing, Bart sent another kick to Jaime's face. " _Make a choice, Jaime!"_ he demanded as Jaime fell back to the ground. Jaime didn't move, and Bart wondered if he knocked him out.

Suddenly, Bart was bombarded with blue rings and he fell onto his knees, his ears ringing loud and his head searing with pain. Jaime stood up, not stopping the sonic cannon until he was sure Bart would take a while to recover. He kicked Bart onto his back.

Bart closed his eyes, wincing in pain. He could hear a scythe slip out of Jaime's armor. He looked up and gasped, eyes wide in fear.

"You wanted me to kill you, Bart. I'm sorry. I can't let you hurt my tribe."

Bart tightly shut his eyes as Jaime's scythe began to soar down towards his heart.

After a second, he opened them, to see the scythe just millimeters away from being in his chest.

" _What in the hell do you think you two are doing?!"_ Zatanna screamed as she stomped up. " _I never thought that I'd have to save my fucking friend from killing my fucking friend!"_ she growled, grabbing Bart's shoulders and dragging him out from underneath Jaime's scythe. She growled. " _Mih esaler."_ Jaime's scythe penetrated the Earth, and Bart flinched. Jaime stood up, and simply stared at Zatanna. Not with any emotion, he just stared. He then activated his jetpack and flew off. Zatanna nor Bart went after him. She turned to Bart, who was still lying on the ground. He stood up as she spoke. "Tell me what's happening. _Now."_

And so Bart did, very angrily.

"You should've let him kill me." he insisted, "We were in the middle of settling things. He won the fight. You interrupted. You've dishonored him."

"There is _nothing_ honorable about killing a friend!" Zatanna screamed.

"You think we were friends?!" Bart threw his head back and laughed. "Acquaintances, maybe! When he brought me with on all the shit we did without you, it's not because he wanted to spend time with _me_. It's not because he wanted _me_ to be _his friend._ It was so he could protect _you!_ He'd talk about wanting to keep _you_ safe, keep _you_ in good health, so that's why he didn't bring _you_ along!" Bart lowered his voice. "And I get it. I really do. You're the one who's known Jaime longer. The one that Jaime's bonded with. I'm the new guy. The third wheeler. It makes sense. And I'm not mad at him for that."

"Don't talk like that, Bart. Maybe it's true that Jaime cares about me more than you, but if he was faced with the options of killing me or losing the tribe, I'd be gone." Zatanna sighed, "And Jaime and I are very good friends. If Jaime didn't see you as a friend, he would've finished you off that day instead of questioning and talking to you. He wouldn't be asking about your day or talking to you on his patrols. He _does_ care about you. Now we need to get back and fix our problems."

"Zatanna, I-" Bart interrupted himself and looked at the ground. He snapped. "I'm done." he threw his hands up in the air, "I'm done! I've only been out in the west for a week and I've already managed to fuck up my life more than I did in New York City! I'm not dealing with this anymore. You and Jaime can figure out what to do about The Outlaws and Windland by yourselves. I'm gonna go… shit, I have no idea." he took off so quickly that Zatanna's hair blew back for a good two seconds.

x

Bart ran for what felt like hours until he finally reached the very edge of the west. Because as far as he was concerned, there was nothing but ocean for miles. A small fishing boat was floating in the water and tied to a dock, and a home to match could be seen, but there appeared to be nobody there. Bart sighed, sitting on one of the large boulders on the sand, taking off his shoes and putting them on his lap before sticking his feet in the warm, shallow water.

He watched the water lap up and down his feet, it bringing wet clumps of sand along with the waves.

"What brings you here?"

Bart jumped so high that his shoes fell off his lap and tumbled into the water.

The man who scared him quickly picked the shoes up out of the water and handed them back to him. The man had a combination of features that Bart had never seen before. Dark skin with blue-green eyes, and blonde hair. He also had some strange markings on his body. "I apologize. I didn't mean to startle you." he said in soft-spoken tone.

Bart hesitantly sat back down on his boulder with his soaked shoes. "N-no, it's fine." he said.

The man sat down next to him, but in the sand. He also put his- those weren't human feet, those were webbed- webbed feet into the water. Bart noticed his hands were webbed as well.

"It's been a long time since I've seen somebody else here." the man said, looking into the distance. "I'm Kaldur'ahm, but I also go by Kaldur. What is your name?"

"Bart." Bart said. "I'm here because… this was the only place I could think to run to."

Kaldur let out a small laugh. "You are not alone." he said. "You may not believe me, but I'm here because I was banished from my city in the ocean, Atlantis, and thus, the Atlantic Ocean as a whole. And now, I am here, at the Pacific Ocean instead."

"No, I believe you." Bart reassured, "Trust me, I've seen and experienced some things these past few months to where I don't even doubt you for a second."

Kaldur looked at him for a second and smiled, then looked back into the distance. "I was the apprentice of my king, King Arthur. Until his brother threw over his rule, and with that overthrow, I was told I had two options: to stay and die, or to run away and live."

"I understand that feeling." Bart scoffed. "I was put under that exact thing, too."

"Oh? How so? Is that why you're here?" Kaldur asked.

"It's not why I'm _here,_ but it's why I'm in the west in the first place." Bart told him, and then repeated his story. It felt automatic, since he'd said it so many times, to so many people. After he finished up his story as to why he fled from New York City, he spoke again. "I was expecting that the west was going to be my safe haven, I expected to have less problems. The opposite has been true. The place where I was supposed to be able to hide was the west, and now I have nowhere to hide. There's nowhere to go. I can't do anything."

"Is there anything I can do to help console you?" Kaldur asked.

"You could drag me under the water and not let me up." Bart suggested.

"I will not do that, Bart." Kaldur told him.

"Guess there's no point in sticking around, then, huh? Good talk, Kaldur'ahm. And good luck." Bart stood up and his stomach growled.

"Come with me, Bart. Allow me to find you something to eat." Kaldur told him.

"No, I'm just gonna wait it out. I'll starve quickly." Bart reassured.

"All is not lost, Bart. Please do not give up hope." Kaldur begged.

"Really? Okay. How about this. You can get me something to eat, and we'll talk about it more." Bart said.

Kaldur stood up. "Will you be okay all alone?"

"I'll be fine." Bart promised.

"Very well." Kaldur dove into the water, and Bart sped off. He ran onto a cliff, and looked down before looking at the world in front of him. There were sandy cliffs on the other side, the ground seemingly a hundred feet below, and a sun beginning to set.

He thought about something, he didn't know what. He just sat there, legs crossed, thinking for a minute. He felt the wind sweep his hair to the side, and he let out a deep breath. He stood up, continuing to hear the howling wind before he casually walked off the edge of the cliff.

x

" _Jaime!"_ Zatanna shrieked as she returned to camp, and she could see the eyes of a dozen surprised tribe members falling on her. She trudged into Jaime's tepee, where he wasn't armored, looking at the ground, and he didn't say a word. "Come help me find Bart. _Now._ He ran off." she commanded.

He remained silent.

" _Now, Jaime."_

He sighed, his armor crawling back up over his body. They walked out of camp together. "You're not gonna scream at me for almost killing him?" he asked in a dead, monotonous voice.

"No." she said simply, their eyes never meeting.

x

Bart was on the ground, eyes closed, underneath his stomach and head were puddles of blood, and there was a small trail of blood that left his mouth and poured to the ground.

Zatanna collapsed to her knees and sobbed at the sight, burying her hands in her face.

Jaime was still standing, and in shock. Khaji Da was scanning Bart. "He…" Jaime spoke in a small voice, "He thinks Bart committed suicide from a cliff… died approximately two hours ago…" he mumbled, then looked over to Zatanna, who was still bawling. He felt a sudden urge of anger run through him.

" _Get it together, Z!"_ he yelled, pulling her up, and she looked in Jaime's orange eyes, hers red and puffy. " _Can you bring him back?"_

" _I can't."_ she cried, and she was about to collapse again, but Jaime caught her. " _I can't."_ she repeated.

But Jaime wasn't believing it. " _Bring him back."_ he felt himself getting angrier. He looked her in the eyes again. " _Zatanna, bring him back!"_

Zatanna kept sobbing. " _I can't!"_ she screamed.

" _Yes you can!"_ Jaime insisted, the headpiece of his armor deactivating, and his own tears streamed down his face. " _I know you can!"_

She managed to stabilize herself, and she sniffed. "I can." she mumbled, "But it's a very long and tedious ritual, and I don't know if I can recite the spell correctly. But Jaime," she said, "it's best to let the dead rest in peace. Please listen to me. Please let him rest."

Tears streamed down Jaime's face. " _Bring him back! Please!"_

Zatanna sighed, "Okay, okay. I will." she sighed and stood there for a moment.

"Well, what are we waiting for?" Jaime asked, "Let's get to it!"

"It's not as simply as that, Jaime." she told him, "Life and death need to be balanced. When you resurrect someone from the dead, something else has to die. We need to sacrifice an animal."

"That's fine, that won't be a problem." Jaime insisted. "Is there anything else?"

"We need six candles, but I can summon them on my own." she said, "Give me a minute to breathe. It's a difficult spell and I need to clear my mind."

Jaime watched as Zatanna sat silently for a second, then uttered a spell which brought six candles. She formed them in a circle around Bart's body. "Jaime, go find a bird. Make sure you keep it alive." she instructed. Jaime nodded, and he took off, and found a pigeon. The pigeon squawked in fear as he caught it, and he flew back, holding down the struggling bird. Zatanna spoke something, and all six candles were set aflame and began to hover. "Jaime," she said, "decapitate the bird inside the circle, then leave its body next to Bart's, and exit the circle."

Jaime stepped over one of the hovering candles and into the circle, pulled out a scythe, and killed the bird quickly and swiftly, leaving it next to Bart. He then left like Zatanna said, and he simply sat there and watched, the stars and fire from the candles reflecting off of his armor.

Zatanna began to say the spell. She sat cross legged, and hovered like the candles. Her eyes were closed, and her hair flowed.

Her eyes suddenly opened and they were white, and she began to chant her spell even louder, and Jaime briefly panicked as he felt the Earth shake a bit. But then she fell onto the ground, the bird's body turned to dust, and with a gust of wind, it was swept away, and the candles blew out.

Bart grumbled as if he were just waking up in the morning, and he sat up, wondering where he was. He yelped as he felt himself suddenly be straddled and strapped in a hug. Soon, he realized, it was Jaime. Not sure what to do, he just went along with it. He hugged him back and buried his head in Jaime's neck crevice, his arms wrapping around Jaime's armor. The armor quickly pulled back, and Bart's arms were soon feeling the fabric of Jaime's shirt and the heat from his skin that came from underneath. Much better.

They sat still like that for a few moments before Jaime spoke. "Let's never try to kill each other again."

Bart laughed. "I agree."

Jaime let him go, and Zatanna walked up, clearly exhausted from the spell she just cast. "Welcome back." she smiled, and her eyes watered, and she pulled Bart into a hug. Bart was happy to embrace it.

"Now, boys," she said, looking at them both, "we need to get back to camp and figure out what we're going to do. And we need to discuss it. No more fighting. No more battles. No more killing each other, or ourselves."

They both nodded.

"Good. Come on, let's go. Let's get some sleep now and talk about it tomorrow morning." she ushered them, and they left.

x

"I'm sorry." Bart said after he finished his extremely belated dinner.

"It's fine." Jaime said, "Everything's fine." he sighed, rubbing the back of his neck.

"It was stupid of me to put you and Zatanna under that." Bart grumbled, "Turns out you can't even escape from death."

"What was it like? Being dead?" Jaime asked.

"The… being dead part wasn't that eventful, but for some reason I feel like I saw the future." Bart said.

"Oh? How?" Jaime asked.

"I don't know." Bart admitted, "I can't even describe it. I'm having trouble remembering. But as far as I'm concerned, we have a lot of problems to solve." he muttered, "And honestly, I'm still feeling kind of disturbed. It didn't feel right just being… _pulled out_ of death like that, I guess you could say."

"Zatanna warned about that," Jaime said, "But do you think you'll recover from it?"

"Definitely, but I'll probably be apathetic for a bit." Bart answered. He yawned. "I'm gonna get going to bed. G'night, Jaime." he said as he slipped under his buffalo skin.

Jaime smiled as he curled up in his dog-like sleeping position.

"Goodnight, Bart."

x

"So, what're we gonna do about The Outlaws and Windland?" Zatanna brought up at breakfast that next morning.

"I kind of have an idea." Bart said, "But it's… crazy."

"Yeah?" Zatanna asked, "What is it?"

"I was thinking, maybe we could find out what The Outlaws are truly like if we pretend to join them. As in, abandon the tribe, and spend time with The Outlaws twenty-four seven. By abandoning the tribe, or _pretending to_ at least, they won't be under any obligation to ally with The Outlaws because they'll no longer be associated with us. By getting close to them, not only could we find out what they're truly like, but we could also, like, y'know, kill them easily." Bart explained.

"Okay, but there's a problem in that." Zatanna said, "By going undercover and pretending like we're rolling with The Outlaws, the people of Windland won't hesitate in attacking the tribe."

"We can always tell Lex Luthor about it." Bart suggested.

"Who in turn, would tell his men, and soon it would spread far enough around Windland to where Jason and Starfire would know they're being deceived." Zatanna countered.

"Dammit." Bart mumbled, "Alright, alright. How about this: one of us goes and the other two stay behind. Jason likes me, and I'd be willing to volunteer."

"It's not safe to live with both of them all alone. Another one of us has to go with." Jaime insisted.

"I can bring Valor." Bart said.

"And what happens when he literally runs out of steam and needs to refill? You'll be alone again." Jaime pointed out again.

"I guess that's true…" Bart mumbled, "...and Jason did mention hating steam machines, I wouldn't be surprised if there was an issue there." he looked up at them. "So, you or Zatanna?"

"Jaime should go." Zatanna said, "I don't want to. I need time and space to concentrate on most of my spells, and it's been shown I have trouble doing that when I'm in battle with people who are a bit more extraordinary than just some Windland men. And I'll have Valor and the tribe with me. If I talk to Luthor, maybe I can convince him that since I'm going to kill you two and Starfire and Jason, his men should hold back on attacking Longshadow land, since I'd still be assassinating The Outlaws."

"Sounds like a plan." Bart agreed.

"Let's talk to Chief Shadow." Jaime insisted, and he, Bart, and Zatanna headed inside the tribe leader's tent.

"Chief? We have a plan."

"What is it?" Chief Shadow asked.

"In order to take out The Outlaws, Bart and I are going to pretend to join them. We can find out everything we need about them, and have more chances to assassinate them when needed. Zatanna will stay behind to protect the tribe and talk to Luthor about keeping his men away- she will convince him that she will kill me, Bart, Starfire, and the two remaining Outlaws, and therefore, should do such- that is, keep his men away." Jaime explained. He then added, "Valor will stay behind to protect the tribe as well. Does this sound okay with you?"

The chief thought about it for a moment. "Are you sure you will be able to pull this off?"

"It's worth a shot." Jaime replied.

The chief nodded. "Very well. You may head off when needed. Would you like me to inform the rest of the tribe about the plan?"

"What do you guys think?" Jaime turned to his friends. They both nodded. He spoke. "Yeah, tell them. The last thing I want is for them to think we're traitors."

"Of course. Good luck, Bart. Good luck, Jaime. We will have faith in you both." Chief Shadow said, and the trio exited.

x

Another series of goodbyes occurred, and yet again, Bart felt himself be bombarded by the weeping of the women of the tribe.

He hugged Zatanna and patted Valor on the head before taking off with Jaime.

Bart lead him to the base that Jason brought him to the other day. He knocked on the door which was on the ground. "It's Bart." he called, "We need to talk."

It opened with a groan, and Jason looked up and smiled at the two. "Come on in!" he invited, and both descended down into the base.

"So, what's the news?" Jason asked as he sat down at the table against the wall.

"We thought about it for a while, and Jaime and I both decided to leave the tribe as a whole and roll with you guys." Bart explained.

"And what about the girl? What's her name… Zanne? What of her?" Jason asked as he began to wipe a stain off of his helmet.

"Zatanna. She didn't want to leave the tribe." Bart said.

"Ah. Well, I'm glad you two were wise enough to abandon that whole 'tribe' bullshit in the first place." he paused cleaning his helmet and stuck out his hand. "Welcome to The Outlaws, Bart and Jaime. You two will fit right in." Bart shook his hand, and then Jaime.

Jaime looked like something was extremely funny, but Jason didn't comment on it. "There's only two bedrooms, sorry." he said as he opened the other bedroom. "This was Roy's room, and the other is the one for me and Starfire. You guys will just have to work out who gets to sleep in the bed amongst yourselves."

"That's fine." Jaime said.

"In fact, I'm going to see what's up with her. I'll be back in a second." Jason reassured, and walked off into his own bedroom.

"What was so funny?" Bart whispered once Jason disappeared.

"Once I finally shook Jason's hand, Khaji Da got a DNA sample of him. The sample from him and the semen from the bed back in Rattlesnake are a match." he chuckled.

Bart laughed, too.


	11. The Tale Of The Outlaws (PT 7)

A few exchanges of words were heard behind the door of the couple's room before it opened, and Starfire exited behind Jason, brushing her neon pink hair with a comb she most definitely stole, and wore nothing but a thin nightgown.

"Jaime." she said, her green eyes softening. She slipped the comb into an oversized pocket in the front of her gown. She then held out her hand, her long, slender fingers extending out. "We have battled each other like warriors. I believe there was a reason that neither of us have died from our sparring- we were not meant to fight, but rather, combine our strength, and use our forces together. With that, I do welcome you."

Jaime shook her hand and smiled. "I agree." was all he said.

"Great!" Jason piped in, "So, when do you want to guys want to go ahead and fuck up the town? I'm ready. We could go right now."

Jaime and Bart looked at each other, wondering what the hell to do.

"Jason," Starfire scolded, "they have just arrived. You must allow them the time to adjust. Windland is not going anywhere. Besides," she cupped his face, getting in very close. She spoke seductively. "You did promise to have a relaxed lunch atop of a mountain today." she gave him a kiss on the cheek.

"Oh? Oh yeah, I did." Jason chuckled quietly. He and Starfire looked at each other for a few moments before sharing a kiss. And then another kiss. And then one after that. Soon, the kisses began to get longer and more intense with each one.

Jaime and Bart just looked at each other with looks of perplexment as the sounds of making out went on in the background.

"Hey guys," Jason murmured between kisses. "We'll keep discussing things soon, just-" another lip smack. "-just give Starfire and I a minute." They stumbled into their bedroom and closed the door. The sounds of more intense kissing and the removal of clothing could be heard.

"Well, that escalated quickly." Bart said.

Jaime scoffed. "All because she wanted lunch on a mountain."

Bart shook his head. "I don't understand couples."

"Me neither." Jaime agreed.

The sounds in the bedroom started to get more loud.

"You wanna head on outside?" Jaime suggested, gesturing to the vault on the ceiling. Bart nodded, and Jaime opened it, and they exited out, the blazing late-July sun blinding them for a second. They sat on the grass in silence, and a soft breeze came by. Jaime pulled his armor back.

Bart broke the silence. "I want to thank you."

"For?" Jaime looked at him in confusion.

"For almost killing me. Give me a chance to explain- basically, I know a lot of what was happening between us, fight-wise, was just a bunch of testosterone-fueled miscommunication." he chuckled a bit, "But, you didn't hesitate to try and kill me. You would do anything to protect your tribe and you wouldn't even think a second thought about it. I respect that, Jaime. How much you love those people and want to make sure they're safe. You really are their God of protection."

"Oh." Jaime said, looking down. "I… I mean, I really don't know what to say. I feel like I would've regretted it once it finally sunk in." he said, "I would constantly be thinking about how I could've had a rational conversation with you instead to try and bring you back to our side, but it would be too late, because you'd be dead."

"Why was I brought back from the death I brought upon myself?" Bart asked.

Jaime bit his lip. "I'm not sure. I just begged Zatanna to bring you back, and she finally did. I feel like the same thing would've happened had I killed you. Would you have preferred to stay dead?"

Bart was silent for a minute. "Yeah." he admitted.

"I'm sorry." Jaime apologized. "I should've let you rest."

"It's okay. I'm not mad at you." Bart insisted, "Regardless of what _I_ want, I'm _supposed_ to be here. I'm supposed to be here to help you and Zatanna fix the problem that's going on. I can't just take the coward's way out. And by the way," Jaime looked up at him. "I told you I saw the future. Well, the images are becoming more distinct now."

"Yeah? What are they?" Jaime asked curiously.

"I saw my best friend, Dick Grayson, steering his flying machine through the sky with some suitcase in the passenger's seat. I saw a very, very angry man who was being struck by lightning. And then I saw a black haired baby, sleeping in a crib."

Jaime raised an eyebrow. "What?"

"I don't get it, either." Bart said. "Should we head back down?"

"Yeah, I hope they're done." Jaime said as they stood up and began to walk back down, shutting the vault as they returned to the base.

Jason and Starfire weren't in the main room, but the bedroom was quiet, indicating they had finished. A few chuckles and whispers were heard before the sounds of getting up, and Jason walked out of the room, his hair messy. "Sorry," he said as he opened the door, "got a little busy. But you guys should get it- can't pass up your lady when she's in the mood." He looked confused for a moment, then laughed. "Oh, haha! You're actually a man!"

For what felt like the millionth time that morning, Bart and Jaime looked at each other, confused.

"Jaime, I mean. He's a man. I've never seen him without his... whatever, I never thought he was a human." Jason explained.

"Yeah, you're not the only one." Jaime rolled his eyes. "It's armor. It retracts when I tell it to, and goes on when I tell it to. _Yes, I know I'm not the boss of you, sh- yes, I know you can also-"_

"Huh?" Jason cocked an eyebrow, and Starfire walked out of the bedroom.

"He has a little bug on his back, called the scarab. Khaji Da." Bart explained as Jaime bickered with Khaji, "The scarab is basically what allows him to have his armor and weapons. Khaji Da isn't a living being, he's artificial, so I don't even know why we call him 'he', but whatever. But yeah, he's the provider of all the stuff Jaime gets, and he also talks to Jaime, and Jaime says he's very whiny and bossy. According to Jaime, if Khaji feels the need to, he can take control of Jaime's body and armor, but he's usually pretty good at letting Jaime do what he wants to do."

"Huh." Jason said, "Can I see him?"

"Jaime," Bart turned to Jaime, who was still arguing with Khaji Da, "Jason wants to see Khaji Da."

Jaime mumbled something to the bug as began to pull up his shirt, and Bart got that dumb heated feeling again. Jaime showed his back to Jason.

"Well, isn't that just neat?" Jason said, and Starfire looked at it in interest. "May I touch it?"

"Yeah, he says it's okay." Jaime nodded. Jason walked up and placed his hand on top of the bug. Suddenly, a neon blue pulse raced up and down Jaime's spine.

"Woah!" Bart said.

"Woah what?"

"It reacted to being touched." Jason explained. "Blue light in your backbone. Also, your bug is cold metal. Not surprised. It kind of vibrates a bit, though."

"He doesn't appreciate being referred to as an object." Jaime told him as he pulled his shirt back down.

Jason rolled his eyes and grumbled, " _He_ kind of vibrates, though." he corrected. Starfire giggled. Jason pulled a watch out of one of his pocket. "We still have some time before it's time for lunch. So I guess we can talk for a bit. So, Jaime, tell me about yourself. You interest me."

"Oh." Jaime seemed surprised. "I guess I should tell you how I got the scarab."

"That sounds like it would be a very interesting story." Starfire commented.

And so Jaime told it. As Bart leaned against the wall, he couldn't help but feel sympathy for Jaime, as he'd been put in that spot too many times these past few months. He thought about crazy life was, how he thought two months ago that the world was just so simple. It wasn't. He'd been exposed to so many things since his parent's deaths, and he wondered how many things in the world actually weren't from the world itself.

They decided to head out for lunch soon after, grabbed a few stolen cans of beans, chip bags, and bottles of alcohol before running and flying up to a mountain, looking at the world below. Windland could be seen, small in the vast space of open land.

They set out a blanket, and the lunch mostly consisted of Starfire and Jason drunkenly flirting and kissing. Bart and Jaime sat in silence underneath a tree some distance away, Bart drinking a bitter tasting beer as they watched birds fly across the sky.

"They really can't get enough of each other, can't they?" Jaime laughed a little as he turned his head and saw Starfire and Jason French kissing on the blanket.

"I guess not." Bart shrugged. "You lookin' forward to that one day?"

"No." Jaime shook his head, "It's kind of obnoxious, honestly. And besides, finding a girl who won't be freaked out by Khaji Da is like finding a needle in a haystack."

"Zatanna." Bart suggested.

Jaime blushed and laughed a little. "Alright, I'll admit that I did have a _tiny_ crush on her for a few months. But it was just that- tiny. Don't tell her that, by the way." Jaime looked at Bart sternly. "Don't."

"I won't." Bart promised.

Jaime went back to talking. "But it just kind of naturally went away after a while. Figured it was just some odd infatuation or something."

Bart was about to sip his beer when he stopped.

"You okay?" Jaime asked.

"I…" Bart slowly set his beer on the ground. "I'm okay. Yeah. I'm just… got a sudden migraine, that's all. Probably the stuff in the beer."

Jaime looked at Bart for a few moments before whispering, " _He's a what-what?"_

"What was that?" Bart asked.

"Nothing. Scarab is just scanning your body chemistry." Jaime was silent for a few more moments. And then his face fell flat.

"What'd he tell you?"

"Nothing. He just got something wrong." Jaime insisted.

"What?"

Jaime then got into an argument with the scarab, constantly cutting himself off. He sighed, and looked back towards Bart. "It's nothing. Scarab just being… irrational."

"Are you guys ready to go?" Starfire walked up and asked.

"Yeah." Bart said, and stood up, leaving his beer there. Jaime still didn't seem like he was in too good of a mood, but he said he was ready to go, too.

They returned to the base, and Jason said, "So… Windland. Soon?"

"You know," Bart piped in really quickly, "How about you two like… show us around the west a bit more? Like, seeing the towns you've already destroyed. To uh, 'get us into the idea' of this kind of lifestyle before actually doing it."

"I like that idea." Starfire nodded, "A tour! Doesn't that sound nice, Jason?"

Jason shrugged, "I guess. I mean, if that's what you guys wanna do."

"Jaime? You wanna do that?" Bart asked. Jaime looked like he was spacing out.

"Oh? Uh. Yeah. Sure." he responded blandly.

"Alright, I suppose we'll just head out now, then." Jason said, and he climbed back out the vault.

They showed them around the first few towns, Jaime seemingly dead on the inside no matter where they went. Same reactions, same one-word responses, and it felt like whatever friendship he'd gained with Bart had suddenly been sucked away. Jason and Starfire noticed his strange behavior, but they both didn't say anything.

"You know, we should honestly stop at Jesterson to stock up a bit more." Jason told Starfire. It wasn't until he said that did Jaime's eyes widen and he was shocked out of his dead state.

"What do we do?" Bart whispered.

"I don't know." Jaime responded, and they both looked over to Jason, who turned to them.

"Next town is Jesterson. We're gonna be stocking up on some supplies there."

They followed them, and by the time they got there, Jason looked at what was once his arsenal. "What the fuck?!" he screamed as he saw nothing but ashes and rubble. "Who the fuck did this?!"

Jaime and Bart stood uncomfortably.

"Is it possible it may have burned down on its own?" Starfire suggested.

"Fuck, maybe." Jason sighed, running his hand through his hair. "Let's check Old York City."

And off they went again. Once Jason had found out that Old York City's stock had been destroyed as well, all he did was scream. He screamed into the air, not saying a word. Just screaming. He pulled off his helmet and slammed it onto the ground. " _This isn't a fucking coincidence!"_ he exclaimed, " _Whoever did this, they'll pay!"_

"Jason, please calm down." Starfire begged, holding a strong grip on her boyfriend's shoulder, "Who could've known about the bases' locations besides me, you and Roy?"

" _Roy."_ Jason snarled, " _He probably told Wally West. Fuck!"_ he yelled _, "Wally West is probably selling information, that motherfucker!"_ he screamed. He turned to Jaime. " _Jaime!"_

Jaime jumped.

"Does that thing have a tracking device?"

"Yeah."

"Track down Wally West and take him out. _Now."_

Jason turned back to Starfire, and rubbed his temples. "Star," he said, "Take me back to the base, won't you?" She nodded, picking him up with her strong arms. "Are you gonna come with us or with Jaime, Bart?"

"I'll stay with Jaime."

"Alright then. See you two at home." he said, and Starfire took off.

Jaime sighed, "What're we gonna do?"

"I have an idea." Bart said.

"What is it?"

"We'll go to Wally's house, tell him what's happening, and get him and his wife train tickets to get out and head towards New York City. They can live with my grandfather."

"I guess that works. But what if Starfire and Jason want to see Wally's body?" Jaime inquired.

"We can always burn his house down. Say it's an act of revenge for the burning down the arsenals. Say his body burned with it." Bart explained.

"Alright." Jaime said, "I guess we should get going now."

They ran and flew off together in the direction of Northwood.

x

A sober Wally West opened his front door in casual clothing. His face brightened up. "My amigos!" he cheered.

"Wally. We need to talk. It's extremely urgent." Bart ushered.

Wally looked at him for a moment before nodding and letting them inside. Artemis was placing flowers in a vase and she looked confused at their entrance. "Bring your wife with to talk, too." Jaime commanded.

"Arty, come here." Wally waved his wife over. The blonde woman stuttered over.

"Hello, my name is Artemis. You must be Wally's friends." she extended her hand. Both Bart and Jaime shook it.

"They're my cousin and his friend, remember I told you about them?" Wally asked.

"Oh!" Artemis exclaimed, a look of concern going over her face. "Bart and Jaime. What's wrong?"

"Come on, let's sit." Wally urged, and they sat on two sofas that faced each other.

"So, Roy is dead. Bart killed him." Jaime explained.

Both Wally and Artemis's eyes widened, and they shot a look at Bart. Bart shifted uncomfortably.

"Except this made Jason happy, because he hated Roy. And he invited Bart to be his replacement. So what we did was pretend to join the group, because it'll be easier to take them out that way, being so close. Remember when you gave us the map, Wally?" Jaime asked.

Wally nodded, wrapping his hand around his wife's.

"Well, me, Bart, and our friend Zatanna went to the locations on the map. We ended up destroying the arsenals that they had. And today, Jason and Starfire decided they wanted to give us a tour of their locations, upon which they discovered their destroyed arsenals. They know you're the only one who knew the locations other than them and Roy, because Roy had always talked about you and tried to invite you in their group. They believed you were selling information to people, and sent us to assassinate you. But of course, we're not going to do that." Jaime finished up.

"You need to leave now for the sake of all of our lives." Bart explained, "You need to get on the next train as soon as possible, and head off to New York City." he sped off and then returned with a napkin that had been written on. "You can live with your aunt Iris, Wally. If you arrive in the afternoon, go to this address." he pointed to the address of STAR Labs. "If you arrive in the evening or the early morning, go to this address." he pointed to the Allen mansion address. "And if you arrive at night, just get a hotel and go to that address in the morning. Can you two do that for me? You'll like it in New York City, I promise."

They both nodded, squeezing each other's hands. Wally let out a nervous laugh. "I guess we should pack our things." He stood up with his wife, "We'll be back shortly." and then they headed up the stairs.

Once again, Jaime and Bart were left in silence.

"Are you okay?" Bart finally asked, "You've seemed apathetic all day since whatever happened at lunch."

Jaime let out a sigh, and took a while to speak. "Are _you_ okay?"

Bart didn't know why, but the question embarrassed him. "I'm fine. Why?"

"You didn't seem okay back there at lunch, too. You were the one to freak out." Jaime pointed.

"I-" Bart cut himself off. "It's just I got a little spooked. It just happens. Besides, this isn't about me. This is about you."

"It's _definitely_ about you." Jaime growled, and Bart's heart started to race.

"So the reason you've been acting all pissy all day was because of _me?"_ he said, feeling threatened.

"Well, I don't wanna say _that-"_

"So it _was_ because of me." Bart folded his arms and scowled. "I'm bothering you somehow."

"Guys?" Artemis and Wally showed up at the bottom of the stairs with their suitcases in hand. "We're ready to go and head off now."

"Good luck." Bart said and stood up, his legs brushing up against Jaime's knees as he walked towards his cousin and his wife, causing Jaime to scowl and pull his legs up to the couch.

Bart stuck out his hand. "Tell Barry and Iris I said hello, okay?"

Wally shook it, "Of course, Bart. Thank you for finally putting an end to The Outlaws antics." he said, and he and his wife headed out the door, shutting it behind them.

Bart turned to Jaime, whose legs were still on the sofa. "What about me is bothering you?" he folded his arms and looked condescendingly towards him.

"The same thing that's bothering you." Jaime's feet hit the floor.

Bart's hard look softened, and he looked down at the floor. They didn't speak. Bart then laughed, throwing his hands up, and he walked over to a wall, hitting his head against it, and he continued to laugh. Jaime just looked.

"No, Jaime, I get it. Really." he continued to laugh painfully. "It's still sinking in for me. Now that I think about it, it makes a lot of sense. There were signs. I've been in denial about it for a really long time. Let me guess, the scarab told you I was a queer?" he cringed at the word coming out of his mouth.

"He did. He detected a panicked response when I said something. He said it reminded you of something. He scanned you a bit more and figured it out." Jaime said. There was more silence. Bart turned around and sat down, his back against the wall.

"Can we still be friends?"

Jaime was silent for a few moments and then he spoke. "I'm not sure, Bart." he admitted. "It's not right. It doesn't work like that, y'know. It's against God's word."

"Yeah, I know it's not right." Bart admitted, "I'm going to Hell." he laughed, "Hell by default. I'm guess it's good you and Zatanna revived me, you made it so I wouldn't have to endure eternal torture for a few more years."

They were silent.

"I can get if you don't want to be friends, Jaime." Bart continued to speak, "I wouldn't want to be friends with a queer, either. But," he looked up at Jaime, "can we at least work together to get this problem with The Outlaws solved? I can take right off after that and be out of your, Zatanna's, and the Longshadows' skin."

"I can do that." Jaime agreed. "Regardless of what you are, we have a job to do."

"Right." Bart agreed, and both of them stood up and exited the house. Jaime faced it, pulling his plasma cannon out, and blasted it. Debris went flying, and Bart watched, standing still, his hair flying back.

"Don't you think it's funny how we didn't tell them we were gonna blow up their house?" Bart asked.

Jaime laughed. "Yeah."

x

"What took you two so long?" Jason demanded once they returned to the base.

"Scarab was having some trouble finding where Wally was." Jaime lied, "But everything's all finished now. Wally, along with his house, is nothing but ash and dust now."

"Very well. Well, we should be heading off to bed. Have you guys figured out who's gonna get it yet?" Jason asked.

"No." Jaime said.

He laughed. "Jeez, you guys sure like to take your time, don't you? Well, I'm gonna let you two figure that out. Goodnight." he said as he went to enter his room.

"Goodnight." Bart and Jaime said in unison.

"I'll let you have the bed." Jaime said as they entered the room, "The suit makes it comfortable to sleep on the floor."

"Yeah, I've seen it. You sleep like a dog." Bart laughed as he sat on the bed, slipped off his shoes and threw his head back onto the pillow.

"I do not!" Jaime countered, still standing at the foot of Bart's bed.

"Do, too." Bart insisted, staring up at the ceiling. He yawned.

"Nuh-uh."

"Yeah-huh."

"See. Look at this. This isn't sleeping like a dog." Jaime insisted as he lay down on the floor.

Bart sat up on his bed and looked at Jaime. He didn't say anything, he took his pillow and threw it at him.

Jaime sat up and then looked at the pillow, then back at Bart. He threw it at Bart with incredible force, knocking him backwards. "Ha!"

Bart sat up, and threw it back. This exchange happened two more times before the pillow hit Jaime again, and Khaji Da had enough. _"NO!"_ Jaime screamed as a plasma cannon suddenly appeared from his arm and sent a blast right at Bart. Bart dashed away right in time, running into the wall as the blast hit the bed frame and exploded, making the door fly off of its hinges and into the main room, damaging the walls of the room as well.

"Holy shit!" Jason yelled as he entered the room, seeing black smoke pour out of it. He coughed. Jaime was in the corner wincing, and Bart seemed like he was dazed, his hand was on his forehead. "If you guys were gonna have this much of an issue determining who gets to sleep in the bed, Star and I could've just given ours up for one of you! _God damn!"_

"Lo siento." Jaime apologized. "It was an accident."

"Well, now there's no bed. You two will both have to sleep on the floor. Also all that fucking smoke, Jesus." Jason walked away and opened the vault to let the smoke out, the light from the moon outside pouring in. He walked back into his bedroom, where Starfire could be seen, laughing the world away.

"I'm sorry, Bart." Jaime said once Bart's ears finally stopped ringing. "That was Khaji, not me, I swear."

"I believe you." Bart winced as he felt his head throb. He noticed his clothes had burns in them.

"Are you okay with sleeping on the floor? Because that's all we have." Jaime admitted.

"Yeah. It's fine." Bart curled into a ball and lay sideways on the floor. "G'night, Jaime."

"Goodnight, Bart."

x

Bart kept waking up in the middle of the night due to shivering.

By the time the morning light poured through the open vault, Bart was no longer shivering, but instead, found himself being spooned by Jaime with one of his arms draped over him, the arm having a soft, glowing pulse. He touched it. It wasn't cold metal, but instead, very warm. No wonder why he wasn't shivering anymore.

"Thank you, Khaji Da." he whispered.

He heard stirring in Starfire and Jason's room, and he knew it was time to get up, even though he didn't want to.

Smiling, he closed his eyes and went back to sleep.


	12. The Tale Of The Outlaws (PT 8)

"Wake up." Jason said, looking down. "It's time to eat."

Jaime mumbled, blinking as he got up, his armor retracting off of his body, and Bart started to shiver again.

"Maybe we should get some blankets." Jason suggested as Jaime stood up. "You keep him warm?"

Jaime nodded. "I didn't need him getting sick on us. Scarab can transfer heat through the armor."

"You're a lot more selfless than Roy ever was." Jason scoffed, "If I was left shivering in the night, and Starfire wasn't there, I'd stay left shivering, and he'd use whatever sources of heat we had all for himself." he stood there for a second, wrapping a few fingers around his chin. "I don't think there's actually ever been actual _friendship_ in this group, actually. I guess you two are the first." he turned around to go eat, and Jaime followed him.

"Well, Bart and I aren't exactly friends. More like two people who both decided to just abandon the tribe and thought this would be a better option." Jaime insisted.

Jason laughed and he pulled out a flask full of water, "The fuck you mean you aren't friends? You act like it."

"Well, no. We fight a lot." Jaime said, "Lots of disagreements."

"I can see that. I mean, I've already seen the aftermath of your bed dispute." Jason said, "And I can imagine how fucking brutal those fights are, too. How have you not killed him yet?"

"I was going to," Jaime admitted, "a few days ago. I was stopped by Zatanna."

"Damn. I get now why she didn't come with you." Jason said. "Also, when's the last time Bart bathed? Do you even know? He's really starting to fucking smell."

Starfire entered the vault with some fruit she stole from farms.

"No, I don't." Jaime admitted.

"Ah. That's not good." Jason picked up a strawberry and popped the whole thing in his mouth, chewing on it as he went into his bedroom and came back with fresh clothes and a bar of soap. He walked over to Bart's room. "Hey, kiddo. Wake up. You need to clean yourself up. There's a lot of waterfalls in the mountains you can find. Here's your soap and fresh clothes."

Bart mumbled something before sitting up, looking at the clothes and soap in front of him before taking off from out the vault.

"So. Windland. Today sound good?" Jason said as he continued to eat the fruit.

"I was actually thinking maybe we could toy with them a bit." Jaime spoke up. "Think about it. Leave hints that we're gonna destroy their entire town soon, let their last days be spent in fear. Let them try to run and hide."

"Hmm," Jason thought about it, "how would we go about doing that?"

"We can steal a can of bright red paint, write something cryptic on it. Make a straw doll and hang it on a noose." Jaime laughed at the suggestion.

"Ha!" Jason laughed. "I love the idea of that."

"Idea of what?"

"Oh, shit! You're back already." Jason said once he spotted Bart.

"Fastest man alive, remember?" Bart winked.

"Of course. Also, it seems like you don't know we have a lavatory here. Have you guys been pissing and shitting outside this whole time? Savages." Jason rolled his eyes.

"Where is it?" Jaime asked.

"It's attached to our room." Starfire piped in, "Jason installed it himself. We haven't had the time to make a second one. Sorry."

"Anyways, Bart," Jason changed the subject, "Jaime came up with a good idea. To tease the people of Windland for a bit- make them aware of their imminent doom."

"Oh?" Bart looked over to Jaime, "Sounds good." he said.

"Neat. Bart, can you do me a favor?" Jason requested.

"What's that?" Bart asked.

Jason grinned.

x

Bart had painted "YOU'RE ALL NEXT!" on the side of the mayor's house, pinned a map of all of the previously destroyed towns next to it, and left a pile of stolen wooden dolls burning nearby. He stole two blankets from the motel and ran back to the base.

"Everything's done. We can go back and see their reactions." he suggested.

x

They were atop of a flat roof, hidden behind barrels. Jason was getting a kick from seeing the townspeople pace around in confused murmurs and panic. Lex Luthor took off his hat and used a cloth to pat his bald, sweaty head as he looked at the burnt pile of wooden dolls. He looked up and saw a man walking by.

"Robert!" he called, and Robert stopped in his tracks. "May you fetch Mercy for me, please? I need to pay a visit to the Longshadows."

"Yes, sir." Robert sped off.

"What do you think he's gonna do?" Bart whispered to Jaime.

Jaime shrugged, "I don't know." he said in a low voice, and looked over to the other side of the roof, where Starfire and Jason were hidden behind another stack of barrels, kissing.

 _No wonder why Roy wanted Wally to join them so much,_ Bart thought, _he was probably tired of being third-wheeled all of those years._

" _No, no, no."_ Jaime scolded, placing his left hand atop of his right arm which was beginning to form a sonic cannon. " _Yes, I know The Outlaws are annoying, but that's no reason to bring out any cannons."_

"I'm surprised he was nice enough to keep me warm last night." Bart commented.

Jaime laughed a bit. "Khaji Da is a _weapon,_ ese. He doesn't care about keeping people warm. He only did such because _I_ made him. The last thing I needed right now was for you to be getting cold and sick."

Bart didn't speak for a few moments. He switched the subject. "When are we gonna kill them?"

Jaime sighed, "I was thinking just that this morning. We're really pushing our luck with prolonging this invasion they want to happen. We have to make it soon."

Bart nodded in agreement. "Yeah, for sure. Maybe tonight? Right before bed, when they're tired? You can stab Starfire through the back, and I can snap Jason's neck before he can even think."

"We'll try that." Jaime agreed, then repeated, "We'll try that."

x

The tribesmen grabbed their weapons at the sight of Lex Luthor approaching their camp. Chief Shadow stood up, his strong, bulky figure walking towards the horse that was racing towards them.

Lex Luthor stopped Mercy a few feet away from camp. Chief Shadow didn't speak.

"Hello, good man!" Lex Luthor cheered, sounding out of breath. "I understand your English is very limited, but may I see your two fellows?"

Chief Shadow was silent for a few moments. "They are no longer with us."

Zatanna came out of her tepee and walked up.

Lex Luthor looked at her for a few moments before speaking to Chief Shadow again. "Have they passed on?" he asked.

"They're not dead." Zatanna spoke to him. "Lex Luthor." she then acknowledged afterwards, scowling at him. "They decided to turn their back on the tribe, and joined The Outlaws. In fact, they were invited in after Roy's death. I don't know why." she sighed, "But the deal that was made is still on. I will take out Starfire and Red Hood, along with Bart and Blue Beetle, in exchange that you will leave me and my tribe alone."

Lex Luthor looked at her in surprise. "My god! That was a twist I wasn't expecting." he exclaimed, "Zatanna, you must make it quick. Omens were left in the town today, signing that they were to destroy the entire town and kill everyone it. We may have to flee soon, and I think you both know which direction we will head."

Zatanna had to stop herself from growling. "Of course." she let out a smile, "I will find them and I will kill them."

"Very well." Lex Luthor tipped his hat, "Then I will be off. Have a good day." he turned his horse around and galloped back into the direction of Windland.

x

Bart and Jaime spent the rest of the day listening to Starfire and Jason have sex, playing poker, and resting on mountains drinking liquor.

That night, it eventually came time to head off to bed. And Jaime did what he was supposed to do.

And it worked, in a way. Starfire did let out a gasp of pain as she felt Jaime's scythe penetrate into her back, but her tough skin made it difficult, and he only got about two inches of the blade in her.

All four of them stood in shock. Jason stared at Bart with hate in his eyes. He pulled out a gun out and shot Bart in the head.

The only thing Bart could comprehend was hitting the floor.

x

Bart woke up in Zatanna's tepee. He'd never actually been in here, he suddenly realized. Her tepee had a soft green glow coming from the top of it, and there were a few tables with books and potions on them. Valor was sitting on one of the tables, watching him.

"Oh, thank god." Zatanna let out a sigh of relief once she saw Bart coming to.

"Was I revived again?" Bart mumbled, sitting up and feeling dizzy.

"No." Zatanna shook her head, "We managed to save you just right before you died, though. You're lucky that Jason's bullet didn't kill you right away, in fact. A millimeter difference could've been instantly fatal. And I wouldn't have been able to bring myself to revive you again. Doing it once is risky enough, twice… well, there hasn't been good results from that, to say the least."

"Where is he?" Bart asked.

"Jaime's in his own tepee. He needs some time alone."

"No, where's Jason?" Bart reworded his question.

"Oh! Well, Jaime had to get you back to the camp as soon as possible, and Starfire took off with Red Hood during that." Zatanna explained.

Both were quiet for a few moments.

Bart broke the silence. "How much danger is the tribe in now?"

She let out a hysterical laugh. "Way, way, too much. Now we have Windland men _and_ Outlaws who're gonna be after us. I'm gonna talk to Chief Shadow and see if we can go somewhere else. It's not worth staying here anymore."

Bart sighed. "Honestly, that's not a bad idea." he admitted. "It's probably for the best." he was quiet again for a minute. "Should I see Jaime, or should he still be left alone?"

"Give him some more time." Zatanna insisted, "He's taking the failed assassination pretty hard. Apparently, even Khaji Da had no idea that the scythe wouldn't go through Starfire's flesh all of the way."

"Y'know, Z, I'm beginning to think we'll never be able to kill her ourselves." Bart said. "We might need a spell."

Zatanna bit her lip in uncertainty. "Maybe. I'm not sure how I could pull something like that off." she switched the subject, "For now, I'm gonna talk to Chief. I'll be back soon." she got up and strutted out of the tepee.

For the first time in a long time, Bart felt alone. Truly, he hadn't been in the west that long. Jason had been here for well over ten years, and Zatanna and Jaime both were living "uncivilized" western lifestyles for over a year. But no, Bart had only been here for how long… ten days?

But it made sense, really. He was Bart Allen, and he always managed to quickly into situations that he didn't necessarily want to be in.

In the span of ten days, Bart was taken in by a tribe, given a mission to go and assassinate people, was captured, destroyed things, met a long lost relative, learned that lots of things on Earth weren't even _from_ Earth, killed a man, met a man from the sea, killed himself, came back to life, joined a group of Outlaws, discovered he was a queer, and he was shot and almost died multiple times.

He laughed to himself. He may have been the fastest man alive, but he couldn't keep up. The west was no escape, not at all.

He exited the tepee and looked at the stars for a moment before entering the one he and Jaime shared. Jaime was sitting with all of his armor active except for the headpiece, and he picked at blades of grass on the ground, not looking up.

"Hey Jaime," Bart said, "Zatanna thinks it's best if the tribe moves to a different place."

Jaime was quiet, and then he spoke, not looking up. "Y'know, Bart," he laughed, "the man in me wants to say to hell with that, to stay and fight. But the Khaji Da in me is saying that if I want the tribe to survive, then that's the most ' _logical tactic'._ But don't get me wrong, he thinks fighting is a good idea, too."

"So are we gonna fight?" Bart asked.

"I don't know. It's not my tribe. It's Chief Shadow's." Jaime sighed, and he ran a hand through his hair. Bart joined him in the activity of sitting down and pulling at grass.

"I guess that if we leave, and you finally escape your problems, then I'll get a move on." Bart chuckled a little. "I was hoping that Zatanna could put a disguise spell on me, so that I could run back to New York City and live a normal life. As normal as possible, anyways."

"Sounds like a good plan." was all Jaime said.

Zatanna entered. "Pack your things, boys." she said, "We're getting a move on right now."

x

It took a while to get everything together. Tye strapped his last pack to his horse.

"Zatanna," Bart said to her as they watched Tye hop on his steed, "I plan on going back to New York City. I was wondering if you could do some sort of disguise spell so I could try and live my life there without being seen as a criminal."

"Oh?" Zatanna asked. "Are you sure that's what you want?"

"Positive." Bart nodded.

"Well, okay. I can't guarantee that the spell will last, though, I'll try my best." she took a deep breath, closing her eyes. She began her chant, and Bart watched as his body took on changes. She opened her eyes, and smiled. "Still just as handsome as before." she brought him into a hug. "I'll miss you." she murmured.

"I'll miss you too, Zatanna." he replied, embracing her.

She separated them. "Are you gonna go say goodbye to Jaime?" she asked, crouching down and stroking Valor on the head.

"Yeah." Bart replied, and he ran over to Jaime, who'd been watching in the distance. Neither spoke for a second. "I guess this is goodbye." Bart said.

"It is." Jaime confirmed.

"It was nice knowing you. Uh," Bart looked for the right words, "you're somebody I'll definitely never forget. I hope your tribe ends up okay."

"I do, too. Thank you, Bart." Jaime said.

"Well, uh… goodbye, Jaime." Bart concluded.

"Goodbye, Bart."

Bart looked down before speeding off and grabbing his bird. He waved at the tribe before speeding off towards the east.

x

Bart had only been running for about two minutes before he was blasted in the back and stumbled to the ground. Valor let out a screech and took off towards the sky.

Bart moaned in pain, looking behind himself. Green acid began to seep into his skin.

_Oh no._

He heard a squawk from Valor before there was a loud sound of an explosion, and the sound of Valor's gears and pipes clattering to the ground.

Bart knew what had happened. Tears began to silently stream down his face.

A pair of feet could be heard jumping onto the ground, and he didn't dare look up. Jason Todd's boots were soon directly in front of him.

"Bartholomew, Bartholomew, Bartholomew. Tsk, tsk, tsk." Jason grabbed Bart and held him in an upright position, causing Bart to let out a yelp of pain. He slowly opened his eyes and saw Jason Todd's green ones looking right at him. "Come on, buddy. I thought you were better than that!" Jason scolded, and laughed a little. "Did you seriously think you could just run away like that? Seriously?"

Bart didn't speak.

"Talk to me, kiddo!" Jason exclaimed.

"I'm not going to be bothering you anymore." Bart mumbled, "Let me go."

"Let you go, huh? Let you go back to New York so you can tell Bruce and Dick all about me and where I am, and what I'm doing? The second they have a hint of where I am, that's the second they're coming out to find me and finally lock me up for good." Jason snarled. "Yeah, no thank you. And if I'm gonna be honest," Jason let go of Bart and he dropped to the ground. Bart saw Starfire hovering over him. "I _should_ kill you. But I'm a nice guy, and I decided that I'd rather give you an option."

"An pption?" Bart croaked.

"An option, yes. Here's your option, kiddo. I saw your tribe hauling ass out there. Star and I are going to go kill them. Now you have the option to either run eastward and not have to deal with us, but live the rest of your life with crippling guilt, or you can go after us to try and save your stupid clan and die. Your choice. Choose wisely." Jason said.

Starfire picked up Jason and she took off into the sky.

Bart grunted as he sat up, and looked around. Scattered pieces of Valor were to the left of him. He grabbed the pieces, and looked at the mess that was gathered in his arms. He collapsed to his knees and cried.

Maybe the bird was just a machine, but Valor had still meant a lot to him. That wasn't the only reason he cried, though. He cried because he knew that people in the tribe were going to die, and he was too weak to help. He cried because he knew he was probably going to die if he tried to go back and help. He cried because he knew he'd never forgive himself if he ran away and lived. He cried because goddamn, did he regret not pulling the trigger of that revolver back in June.

He sighed, placing the pieces of Valor near a boulder before sitting on the boulder itself. He remembered Kaldur'ahm, and his talk with him. What would the man advise that he do?

Did Kaldur ever regret running from his home of Atlantis? Probably. He seemed so unhappy being at the wrong ocean, so… _hollow._

Bart would never be able to live with the crippling guilt of leaving Jaime, Zatanna, and the tribe behind. He needed to go back and help, even if it meant the death of him. So what if he died? He'd done it once, and he could do it again.

With that, he sped off back towards the western direction.

x

Bart arrived to where his tribe was at the same time that Jason and Starfire did. The tribe members let out yells as they pulled out their weapons, firing arrows at Starfire. She landed on the ground, and Jason was let out of her grasp. Jaime took off for Starfire, and Jason shot his bullets towards the tribe, shooting a few of them off of their horses. Zatanna yelled, and Jason flew backwards through the air before tumbling onto the ground. Bart ran up to him and like Roy, began to attack at Jason as brutally as he possibly could, every ounce of anger flowing out of him like water.

Except this time he didn't get a chance to finish him off, because Starfire had blasted him in the back. Bart fell on top of Jason, who coughed up blood from the impact and moaned in pain. Bart rolled himself off of Jason and quickly ran, dodging the bullet that had been shot at him. He didn't manage to avoid the second one, though, and fell to the ground as he was shot in the leg.

Jason was reloading his gun when Zatanna shouted something else, and he was paralysed, the gun's barrel frozen in time, pointing directly at Bart. Zatanna was the one who was next to get blasted from Starfire, but it affected her much worse than it did Bart. With Zatanna being wiped out, Jason was able to move again, and Bart's disguise blew away like dust. He stood up, and so did Jason. Both were limping, bleeding, sweaty, and breathing heavily. They simply stared at each other for a few moments. Jason pointed his barrel at Bart again, and was about to shoot, when there was a crashing noise behind them, and Starfire had practically been thrown into the Earth, digging up dirt as she slid across the ground. She narrowly avoided Jaime's plasma blast that followed, and she flew by, grabbing Jason and retreating with him into the sky.

Bart collapsed back onto the ground. His eyes began to roll to the back of his head. Jaime flew up to him and picked him up. All he heard was, " _Thank you, Bart."_ before falling unconscious.

x

Bart woke up in a cot, next to Zatanna, who was pretty badly hit, but visibly breathing. "Where are we?" he mumbled to Jaime, who was sitting next to them.

"Not too far away from the battleground." Jaime informed him, "But we had to stop to help you two."

"I'm okay now." Bart yawned, and he stretched, though the activity caused him immense pain. He sighed, and looked up at the clouds that floated by in the sky. "Valor's dead."

"Que?"

"Valor died. Starfire blew him into bits." his voice quivered. "I have his remains set down by a boulder not too far away."

"Maybe you could go grab them and we can have a proper burial for him." Jaime sighed, "Speaking of which…"

"What?" Bart asked.

"We're gonna have to do a burial real soon." Jaime said.

"Who died?" Bart asked.

"Nobody, not yet." Jaime sighed, "It's Tye. Jason managed to shoot him in the chest. He's bleeding out, and since Zatanna isn't conscious and we can't wake her up, there isn't anything we can do."

"He's your best friend. Shouldn't you be with him?" Bart asked, and he sat up, looking at the dying man some distance away, who was being cradled in his weeping father's arms.

"I can't watch him die like that." Jaime said, "I can't handle it."

Bart got off of his cot, and walked to the group that surrounded Chief Shadow. "Bart." he whispered once he saw them, "Come. Come see my son."

Bart weaved himself through the group before getting on his knees and looking at Tye. "Hello, Tye."

Tye smiled. "Bart. God of Speed." he said in a weak voice, "Thank you, Bart. Thank you for protecting my tribe." he coughed. "Bart?"

"Yes?" he asked.

"Jaime is my best friend. I love him very much, but I'm going to die. You must be the one to take on that role of companionship now. Please take care of him. Love him, Bart. Love him even more than I did."

"I will," Bart promised, "I will."

Tye smiled again, and then he began to have a small conversation with his sobbing father. Bart could feel his own tears spilling down his face. Eventually, Tye nodded off, and his soul had moved on.

Loud sobs were heard from the Longshadows, and Bart looked over to Jaime, who didn't cry, but just stared at the ground. He sped over. "Tye's passed."

Jaime just nodded.

x

The tribe decided to keep moving on, even though Zatanna was unconscious and Tye was dead. Both of them were carried along with the group, and eventually Zatanna woke up, though she was very weak and dazed. She, too, had cried when she learned what happened to Tye.

Eventually, they came upon a secluded, mountain-like place with lots of streams and waterfalls flowing throughout it. They decided to settle there. They were hungry and tired, but they had to keep working. Some began to begin Tye's burial, others hunted and gathered water, and both Bart and Jaime helped set up the camp once again.

A few hours passed, and they ate a solemn, cold dinner before holding a ceremony for Tye before going to sleep for the night.

"I don't think I'm going to be able to sleep." Jaime admitted.

"Me neither." Bart agreed.

Jaime began to walk away and look out from an edge of the mountain, looking at the illuminated world below him. Bart sat next to him. "Do you think The Outlaws will bother us again?"

Jaime shook his head. "No. We're not going to be bothered by Windland, either. We're going to be okay, at least for a little while." he sighed, his eyes meeting Bart's. "Do you still plan on heading back to New York?"

Bart shook his head. "No." he said, and then he looked up at the full moon in the sky.

"Good." Jaime smiled,

"Because I don't want you to leave."


	13. A Chronicle Of Bats (PT 1)

**A Chronicle Of Bats**

Bart needed Zatanna to wake him up the next morning. He wasn't too thrilled to have his blanket removed. At the higher elevation, the air was a bit colder than it usually would be, and he felt chilly, even though it was early August.

"Hey, Bart." she said in a soft voice. "Jaime told me about what happened to Valor."

He looked up at her. "Yeah?"

She nodded. "I talked to Chief Shadow, he says he wants to have a proper burial for him. Do you know where you left his remains?"

"Proper burial?" Bart sat up. "Why?"

"You'll have to ask Chief." she informed.

"I'll go get his parts, then." Bart said, standing up and dusting himself off.

"Okay. I'll get you breakfast. Be back soon." she gave a small smile.

"I will." Bart promised, and he sped out of the camp and down the mountain, back towards where he left Valor. He was still there by the boulder, left in bits and pieces. He scooped up the remains and looked at the land around him.

It was a nice, clear, and bright day outside. A soft breeze made its way through, slightly pushing his hair back, and he heard small howl of wind as it blew in between the leaves on trees.

It was his eleventh day out west, and Bart finally felt at peace.

Perhaps it wasn't so bad that everything was happening quickly.

He headed back to camp, where he left Valor's remains inside his tepee, and Zatanna entered with his breakfast. Bart quickly consumed it, and Zatanna frowned at the sight of Valor, seeming disappointed.

"Zatanna? Bart? May I enter?" a deep voice was heard outside, and Bart knew it was Chief Shadow.

"Come on in." she replied.

The large man entered, and looked at Valor. He bowed his head. "His ceremony shall take place later today."

"Chief Shadow, I understand grieving him, but…" Bart bit his lip as Chief Shadow looked over to him, "but why a ceremony? I don't want you to think I'm being disrespectful, I did care for him a lot. But Valor was a machine."

"A machine, yes." Chief Shadow acknowledged, "But he was still apart of us, he fought like a warrior protecting our tribe, and died as one protecting you. It is best we honor him."

Bart nodded. "That seems fair."

* * *

Dick wiped the sweat off his brow.

"Will you be alright?" Barry asked as he grabbed an eyedropper, cocking an eyebrow behind his goggles.

"Of course. But I'm not a chemist." Dick explained, dropping his head. "This is confusing to me."

"I could always request Iris's help instead." Barry informed as he began to fill the eyedropper.

"No, it's okay. I need to challenge myself. Besides, being able to perfect the properties of the suit myself is important to me." he lifted his head and let out a small smile, "Bart is my best friend."

* * *

Bart lowered the bits of Valor into the hole in the ground, and watched as dirt was piled atop of them. Zatanna summoned two candles besides the smoothed out bolder that represented the gravestone, and the tribe watched as they softly flickered. A few quiet chants were heard, and Bart felt Jaime's arm wrap around his shoulder in reassurance.

"He was a good machine." Jaime whispered.

"What are we going to do now?" Bart looked over to him.

"The only thing we can do is move on." Jaime's eyes moved towards the grave that was next to Valor's- Tye's. He was silent for a few moments. "Luckily, we're secluded up here. Safety-wise, we won't suffer too much from the loss of Valor."

Bart didn't reply. The tribe began to disperse, and Jaime removed his grip. Bart stayed by the grave, sitting down and pulling his knees to his chest. He didn't know why he expected to hear the fluttering of fabric wings or the squawk from a brass beak.

There was nothing.

x

For the next few nights, Jaime and Bart would be extra attentive on patrol. But after three nights had passed with no sign of disorder, they finally allowed themselves to relax a bit. They both knew that it wasn't over; one day, eventually, whether it be months or years from then, the townsmen would come with a determined wrath to try and take the land, but they at least had a break from all of that. There was time to breathe, and everything slowed down.

Being higher in the air, they had to deal with a few more dangerous predators such as mountain lions, but there wasn't too much of an issue. No wild animal could compare to the dangers and distress that mankind did.

Time began to pass, and Bart could feel himself becoming closer to both Zatanna and Jaime. Having more free time, Bart would usually spend a lot of time learning about magic from Zatanna. Without the stress of worrying about Windland, she had a lot more time to practice it. Sometimes, Bart and Jaime would go out to the desert to do dumb things like break rocks or draw in the sand. They'd also do activities as a group as well, whether it be hunting or hiking the mountains.

Bart had truly began to love his friends, holding a similar fondness to what he felt for Tim and Dick.

His heart would sometimes still hurt over the loss of his eastern friends. Even though he truly hadn't been out west for long, he'd often forget he had a life before it. But when he remembered, he had a sinking feeling in his chest, and would often feel sick knowing that he'd never see them again.

Sometimes, he'd talk to Jaime about it. Jaime would act like he never knew what to say, but Bart knew what he wanted to say. Like the day Valor was buried, Jaime wanted to tell him that the only thing he could do was move on. And move on Bart would, or would try.

It'd only been what, four weeks since he last heard the voices of Dick and Tim?

He couldn't keep track of time anymore, nor did he want to.

* * *

The Wests got off a train and ventured the rest of New York City in the back of a carriage. It'd been about two weeks of non-stop traveling, a very tedious and frustrating two weeks at that. But they'd arrived, and Artemis was absolutely astonished by the city. She'd gasp in awe at every tall building they'd pass.

"It's marvelous, isn't it, Wally?"

Wally smiled at his wife, holding her hand in his. He looked at her. "It sure is. Bart knew what he was talking about."

"Mr. and Mrs. West, you have arrived to STAR Labs." the coach informed as he turned his head through the tiny window from the front of the carriage. Wally opened his door and got out, and the coach got off of his seat to open Artemis's door for her. He lead her out of the carriage as Wally walked up to one of the guards.

"Hello, gentlemen, how are you today? My name is Wallace West. I am the nephew of Iris Allen, as you would know, Barry Allen's wife." He pulled I.D. out of his pocket, and one of the guards took it. "My wife and I have come to see my aunt and uncle." he said as Artemis walked up towards him, and she held his hand once again.

The guards looked at one another before nodding. "You may enter." the taller one of the two confirmed, and he handed back Wally his identity.

The couple got back into the carriage and the gates opened. The coach began to move them inside, and the Wests admired the scenery of the front yard. They stopped at the entrance, and got out once again, entering the building.

"Wow," Wally said, looking at the sight before him. He smiled at Artemis. She was still absorbing her surroundings.

A worker began to walk past Wally. He grabbed the worker, who jumped a bit. "I apologize, sir. I didn't mean to alarm you. But I must ask, do you know where I can find Barry or Iris Allen?" he yelled above the noise.

"Oh yeah!" the worker said, and he pointed a finger up at the second balcony in the large room. "They'd be somewhere up there, I think. I don't know for sure, I've never been up there. But right there is the elevator." he then pointed to the elevator some distance away.

"Ah, I see. Thank you!" Wally said, and the worker nodded before continuing to walk away.

Wally and Artemis made their way up the elevator and onto the second balcony. They first walked past an office where a man with dark hair and eyes gave them a perplexed look through the glass.

"Wally, that was Bruce Wayne!" Artemis exclaimed.

"Was it?" Wally asked. "Maybe we should talk to him- wait." he held out an arm in front of Artemis, and they both looked into a laboratory, where two men, one young and one elderly, stood over a counter with goggles on, working on something.

"The old man. I think that's Barry."

"Well, let's go knock on the door." Artemis encouraged. She did just that, moving her husband's arm out of the way as she walked up to the door and knocked.

It opened with a hiss, and the elderly man put his goggles on his forehead. "Hello, miss- and sir." he added as Wally walked up next to her. The younger man in the lab was looking out the door from a distance. "How may I help you two today?"

"You are Barry Allen, correct?" Wally asked.

"Correct." Barry confirmed.

"Very well. I'm Wally West, your nephew, and this is my wife, Artemis." Wally greeted. Barry's eyes widened for a moment before he laughed, and grabbed Wally's hand and quickly shook it.

"Well, I'll be damned! Iris's family has come for a visit. She will be thrilled! You must have traveled a long way. Oh, and this is Richard, by the way. He's-"

"My son." Bruce interrupted, and Wally and Artemis quickly turned around. Bruce didn't seem to replicate the happy demeanor that Barry had. "Dick Grayson is my son. And as Barry said, you must have traveled a long way to get here. What motivated you to visit without any forewarning?"

"We were sent here by Bart Allen. Considering he had given us the address of your locations, I'm assuming you all know him?" Wally asked.

Dick's eyes widened and he practically shoved Barry out of the way to get to Wally. _"Bart?_ You were sent here by Bart?"

"We were. Why?"

Dick was going to speak, but Bruce beat him to it. "Bart was forced to flee New York City, hence why he was out west in the first place."

"Forced to flee? Was he a criminal?" Artemis asked.

"No." Bruce said, and he pulled out his watch. "We can all discuss this over dinner. Dick, go fetch Tim."

Dick nodded, sprinting off, a large grin on his face.

* * *

"Do you think Artemis and Wally made it to New York City by now?" Bart asked all of a sudden as he and Jaime dangled their legs off of a cliff, watching the sun start to set.

"Scarab says it's likely." Jaime answered, and both were silent for a few moments. "Y'know, they're bound to tell your friends and family about you. Do you think they'll come looking for you?"

Bart shook his head. "No. At least I don't think so."

"And what about Jason?"

Bart stopped swinging his legs and he stood still. He bit his lip. "I don't know."

* * *

"Bart was a good kid." Barry began to explain as he picked up a piece of chicken with his fork, "I was the one to approach him. He was born in Chicago, raised there. Raised poor, that is. My son- his father- and I had a falling out because he wanted to marry a Thawne, and as you may know, Thawnes are our competitors. So, he and the Thawne- her name was Meloni- eloped, and ran away from here to Chicago, where they had Bart." he ate his chicken, "But back in May, they both died. From two different events, but since the deaths were so close, I knew I had to help my grandson in his tough time. So I took him back here to be my assistant. There was an accident in my chemical lab which nearly killed him, but he ended up with some strange, strange ability. And that was to run as fast as lightning."

"Oh?" Wally asked. "I wasn't aware of this."

"Hmm," Barry said, "Well, the ability ended up getting him in trouble here in New York City, so he fled out west, and we haven't heard from him since. So, your arrival is very… exciting, I suppose you could say, to us."

"Which leads me to the question." Bruce stepped in and turned to Wally. "Why'd he send you here?"

"Well, I guess I should give you some background information. There's this group of outlaws out west going by the name of _Red Hood and The Outlaws,"_ Wally explained, "He and a man named Jaime first arrived to my house during the night requesting information about one of their members. How they knew I knew him is beyond me, and I was drunk at the time, so I didn't really question it. Anyways, I told them some stuff, and a few days later, they returned to my house."

Artemis spoke. "They told us that The Outlaws managed to figure out that Wally gave them information, and that we needed to flee because we weren't safe out west anymore. He gave us the address to here and to Mr. Allen's home." she pulled a napkin out of her pocket, and displayed the written addresses on it.

"It sure does look like Bart's hand writing." Tim commented.

"But it leaves a million questions." Dick sighed. "How'd they find your house? Why'd they want information? What information did you give them? How'd The Outlaws find out you gave them that information? Who are The Outlaws? How'd Bart give himself involved with them? Who's Jaime? How'd they figure out you knew one of the members?"

"We can't answer all of that." Wally replied.

"I know, I know." Dick sighed again, "But what can you answer?"

"Well, I'll try my best to tell what I can. When I was a teenager, my father hired another boy around my age to be our servant. His name was Roy Harper. Roy and I quickly became best friends. But then, Roy had a falling out with his father. I didn't see him for a long time, but one night he returned. He started to hang around with this outlaw called Jason Todd, but referred to himself as Red Hood and they-"

"Hold it." Bruce interrupted. "May you repeat that? What was the outlaw's name?"

"Jason Todd. Why?"

There was silence for a few moments.

"Jason Todd was my son."

Both Wally and Artemis looked at him, wide-eyed.

Bruce rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Jason was a thief from the start. I met him because he was trying to steal parts from a machine I had. He was only a child, and I held sympathy for him. So, I took him in. Kept him around here, at STAR. Of course, he wasn't well behaved. I sent him off to boarding school, where we soon got a letter saying that _he_ left a letter saying he ran away to be an outlaw in the west."

"Well, then, Mr. Wayne." Wally let out a sad smile, "It is a small, small little world we are in, isn't it?"

"It is." Bruce agreed. "Please, continue."

"Anyways. Roy wanted me to join him and Jason. I would decline. Regardless, Roy gave me information, with that being some of their locations and Red Hood's real identity. Eventually, a third member joined, a girl who is believed to be a witch, and they were known as The Red Hood and The Outlaws. With the addition of the girl and her powers, they began to terrorize towns among the west much more often and much more brutally. How they found her, I'll never know. And during this time, I never said a word. I moved on from my life and I moved on from Roy. " he scoffed a bit. "But then Jaime and Bart showed up at my door. Artemis answered it, and I brought them into my office, where they asked me questions about Roy. Again, I have no idea how they knew I knew Roy or how they knew where I lived, and I have no idea why Bart was with Jaime or why he was hired to assassinate The Outlaws."

" _Assassinate?"_ Tim seemed surprised. "Bart's an _assassin?"_

"That's what he told me. I only know _who_ hired them for the assassination, and that was the town of Windland. I lived in Northwood." Wally continued, "I gave them the locations of some of the bases that The Outlaws had, which were given to me by Roy. And I gave them Jason's real identity, and then they were off. Like I said, they came back a few days later. Then there's another long story after that." he turned to his wife, "Arty, please explain?"

Artemis nodded. "What ended up happening is that they went to the locations that Wally gave them and destroyed a few arsenals. Bart later killed Roy. However, this made Jason happy, because he secretly hated Roy. He invited Bart into his outlaw group, and he and Jaime decided to go undercover and pretend they were joining the group to take them out easier. They were taken on a tour, and because of that, Jason discovered that the arsenals were destroyed, and he knew of only one person who could've been selling information as to where the arsenals were- and that was Wally." she took a deep breath, "So, he ordered Jaime to track Wally down and kill him. Jaime and Bart pretended to go off to assassinate Wally, but they ended up coming back to our house to warn us of what happened. They explained everything, gave us the address to here, and we were off. And now we're here, and we're not visitors."

"This is a lot to take in." Barry admitted.

"So either Bart succeeded in his assassinating of The Outlaws or he's dead." Dick concluded.

"I'd assume so." Wally said, "But considering that he wanted us to flee the west…" he bit his lip, "it almost makes me feel like he knew the assassination would fail."

"And so that means, chances are, Jason is still out there." Dick looked down.

Tim grabbed Dick by the sleeve. "I know what you're thinking." he whispered, "And it's a bad idea."

Dick didn't respond, he just looked up at Bruce. "May Tim and I be excused?"

Bruce nodded.

Tim let go of Dick's sleeve, and Dick stood up, and began to walk in the direction of their private lab. Tim followed suit, and he closed the door behind them. Dick leaned against the railing of the balcony in the room.

"You're not actually going to go after Jason, are you?"

"Think about it, Tim!" Dick exclaimed, "If we get Jason back behind bars again, we'll have the approval of the entire country. We could be known as the company who put one of the most wanted criminals in the west in his place. We could expand. Have more business."

"Valid reasoning, I suppose." Tim acknowledged, "But I know that's not the reason why you want to go after him. You want to make sure Bart is okay."

Dick didn't respond.

"It's not a good idea, Dick. I want to make sure he's okay, too. But what happens if we do end up catching Jason? What happens if that exposes where Bart's hiding? You know, he'll still be tried and probably killed if he's discovered. Again, it's not a good idea."

"Okay, okay, fine. Forget about the aspect of Jason. We know where he is- Windland. I just want to see him. To visit him." Dick said.

"To think you'll be able to visit Bart without throwing the aspect of Jason in there is foolish, Dick." Tim crossed his arms.

"Jason may be dead already." Dick threw out the idea.

"And so may Bart!" Tim countered, throwing his hands up in the air. "Dick. Listen to me. Bart didn't _leave_ New York. He _fled._ It's not that we don't _want_ to see him again, it's that we're not _supposed_ to not see him again. That's the whole point of somebody fleeing. And that's why I'm so confused as to why you're building this suit-thing. Do you understand what I'm saying?" Tim asked.

Dick sighed, "You're right. I said it. You're right, Tim." he looked down over at _Nightwing._ "You're right."

Tim slowly nodded. "Glad we can finally see eye-to-eye."

* * *

It was Starfire and Jason's first time terrorizing a town for nearly a month.

And that town was Windland.

They killed as many as possible. Some got away, but they were merely peasants, and whether or not they lived or died had no effect on the couple.

They saved Lex Luthor for last, the mayor crying at the sight of his town before him. Buildings were collapsed and burned, and bloodied and charred bodies were strung everywhere.

"Should've never hired somebody to try and take us out, you fat fucking pig." Red Hood snarled, staring down Lex Luthor as Starfire held him down. "You sure got fucked over, didn't ya? Well, no worries. You don't understand the full story- nor do you need to, but I'll get revenge on the guys that promised you to take me and my lady out. Y'know, the ones who abandoned you to run off with their Native tribe. And Luthor," Lex looked at him, his cracked monocle falling out of place, "I want you to remember these names. Promise me you'll remember them."

Lex Luthor quickly nodded. "I'll r-remember them." he promised.

"Remember the brown-haired skinny boy with super speed. His name was Bart. You know Blue Beetle, the blue and black demon? He was never a fucking demon, dumbass, he was a person. A teenager from Mexico who was shit out of luck. Jaime was his real name. Those were the men who tried to kill me and Starfire. But now, there's me, the man who made himself known for being liberated and never abiding by any rules, Jason Todd." he removed his helmet. "Remember all of us. Because we'll all see each other in hell one day!" he laughed. He then pulled out a switchblade and quickly slit Luthor's throat. Starfire let go of him, and Jason wrapped an arm around her as they watched him die.

After a minute, Starfire spoke. "When will we seek the revenge?"

Jason smiled. "When it's time, Star. When it's time."


	14. A Chronicle Of Bats (PT 2)

The roof of the chemical lab was open to the sky, and the sunshine as a result of the clear day poured in.

"Test A is prepped and ready to go." Barry informed, looking towards Dick after he walked away from the table he strapped mannequin wearing Bart's suit on.

"You think this will work?" Tim asked skeptically as Dick placed his hand on the switch of a lever on the wall.

"Not sure." Dick admitted as he pulled the switch. "Guess we'll just have to find out." he watched as he heard the cogs from the inside of the table begin to move, along with the hissing of the pipes being filled with steam. The table began to vibrate faster and faster to the point that it was almost unbearably loud.

" _It seems like there's too much pressure! Perhaps we should shut it off?!"_ Barry shouted above the noise.

There was a burst, and the top of the table and the mannequin launched into the air, doing flips and turns as they fell towards the ground.

The three men ran towards the window and saw the table top and mannequin lying on the grass below them. Dick ran back towards what was left of the table in the lab, yelping as the hot steam from one of the burst pipes inside of it burned him. He then laughed, throwing his head back. "I think it works!"

"Yeah." Tim laughed a little as well. "Maybe a bit _too_ well!"

They quickly made their way out towards the backyard, and Barry picked up the mannequin. Its head rolled off, but he just rolled his eyes and pulled out his magnifying glass, inspecting the suit. The suit had stayed completely on, no rips or tears. Barry smiled, admiring his and Dick's work.

"Obviously, we cannot assume that it works from one test alone." he turned to the two younger men behind him, "We'll have to continue with them. But, if all appears well, I suppose we could then make a matching pair of goggles."

Tim frowned. "I understand that, but, don't you have actual work to do as well?"

"I do." Barry nodded, "But it's nice to get a break once in awhile, and actually use chemicals for a project you actually _enjoy,_ Timothy. Your brother has been a pleasure to work with."

"Hey, in fact," Dick clasped an arm around Tim's shoulder, "Why don't you help us, Tim?"

Tim bit his lip.

"Oh, come on," Dick encouraged, "It'll be worth it, I promise."

"Alright. Fine. Sure. I'll help you guys with your goggles." Tim sighed, "But, Dick-"

"No 'but's, Timothy!" Barry scolded as he stood back up, holding the mannequin. "Come now, gentlemen. Let's get back inside and continue to work. Wally West will be very intrigued to hear about this!"

x

_August 21st, 1883._

"Test B is prepped and ready to go!"

Dick pulled the switch.

x

_August 29th, 1883._

"Test G is prepped and ready to go!"

"Aren't these tests getting a bit excessive? I don't mean any disrespect, but it's obvious it works."

"There's never such thing as too many tests, Timothy!"

x

_September 13th, 1883._

"Test Z is prepped and ready to go!"

"You've run out of letters now, Barry!"

"It's about time, Timothy! Now we can get started on the goggles!"

* * *

It was early in the morning, and Zatanna sat in the tribe leader's tent.

Chief Shadow spoke. "Surely there couldn't be-"

"No, sir. It is here. Come take a look for yourself." Zatanna folded back the entrance of the tepee. Chief Shadow stepped outside of it, and stuck out one of his large hands. Snowflakes gently drifted onto his fingers and palm. He sighed.

"Up here, winter has already come. This is why we preferred to never live at such a high elevation. Where are Bart and Jaime?"

"I don't know. When _are_ they here?" Zatanna chuckled.

It was true- Jaime and Bart would most definitely contribute to helping the tribe, dropping off large supplies of food and lumber among other things, but then they were gone again, just like that. Zatanna began to feel like a third wheel, but she didn't mind. At around the time they began to spend more time with just each other rather than her, Nina, a young woman of the Longshadows, had just given birth to her first baby. Zatanna began to regularly help Nina with her daughter instead of spending time with Bart and Jaime, so things naturally fell the way they did.

Zatanna still laughed at the conversation she had with Nina one night.

_"You should have a baby of your own, Zatanna. Either Bart or Jaime should be the father. Could you imagine how Godly the child would end up being?"_

_Zatanna laughed. "I'm not interested in being a mother, Nina, nor am I interested in having either of them as the father. But, thank you for the idea."_

_"I am just suggesting!" Nina chuckled as well as she came to her own defense, "A Godly child sounds ideal."_

_"It does, but who knows? There's no guarantee that the child would be Godly. And even if I did want either Jaime or Bart as my child's father, that would never happen. They're never here!" she exclaimed._

_Nina loudly laughed. "That's true!" she admitted. "Where do you think they're at all the time, anyways?"_

* * *

"Hey, look, there's snow." Bart pointed out as he looked up in the sky. _"Ah!"_ he screamed as he suddenly slipped, and he felt Jaime grab his arm right before he went tumbling towards the ground.

"We're on a mountain, ese." Jaime reminded, "Watch where you're going."

"Wouldn't have been the first time I would've fallen down a mountain." Bart mumbled.

"And there doesn't need to be a second." Jaime looked up, "I'm surprised it is snowing, though. It's only-" he paused, "September fourteenth."

"Khaji Da have to tell you?" Bart asked.

"He always lets me know what day it is."

"Lucky. I wish I had a little smart bug that let me know what day it was. It's all a blur to me. I swear it just turned into August the other day."

"Yeah, but the benefits don't outweigh the cost." Jaime mumbled, " _Oh, shut up- yes, yes, I know I should be grateful for being chosen to be the host of one of the most advanced pieces of technology in the- I get it!"_

"There you guys are!" Zatanna shouted from behind them. "What are you two doing just standing there? Come on, we've gotta help the Longshadows prepare for winter!"

"Oh, hey Z." Bart gave a small wave. "Prepare for winter how, though? What does Chief Shadow want us to do?"

"You'll have to talk to him." Zatanna folded her arms. "Come on now!" she turned around and started to walk back.

"She seems a bit irritable today." Bart commented.

"It's probably from hanging around Nina too much." Jaime suggested.

"Why is it just us now? Why aren't we doing a lot with Zatanna anymore?" Bart asked.

"She just prefers to stay close to camp, and we don't. She's still our friend, Bart. There's nothing to worry about." Jaime insisted.

"But we're not as close as we used to be with her." Bart countered. "It's sad."

"People drift away, Bart. And sometimes they can come drifting back. It's just how things work." Jaime explained.

"Was Zatanna ever your best friend at one point?" Bart asked.

"Sure, she was pretty neck-and-neck with tie at certain points." Jaime shrugged.

"Who is now?"

"That's pretty obvious. I'll give you a hint; he's walking right next to me."

Bart chuckled. "Well, no offense Jaime, but I think I'm having trouble deciding between you and Dick on my greatest-friend scale. But I haven't seen Dick in a long time, so you win by default."

Jaime laughed. "Seems skewed, but alright. I'll go with it."

They entered the camp, where Chief Shadow could be standing, waiting.

"Bart, Jaime, I must request that you both wander off less." he said.

"Sorry, Chief Shadow." Jaime apologized, "We won't."

"Very well. Now, what I request both of you do is to find and kill bison. We must skin them and use their hides for warmth, and we don't have enough. Make sure the kills are clean." Chief Shadow commanded.

"Right on it. We'll be back as quick as we can." Bart took off, and Jaime followed suit.

"Told them to stop wandering off and you sent them off right away?" Zatanna teased, smirking at Chief Shadow.

Chief Shadow let out a small smile as his eyes met Zatanna's. "I do not think I could keep them in the camp, anyways." he looked back out to the distance where he watched them fly and run into the distance. "What I'd give to be a young man like them again."

Zatanna gave him a reassuring pat on the back. "You're young in the soul, chief." she reassured, and smiled. "Young in the soul."

* * *

The sunshine of dawn shone through the glass dome of the private lab.

Dick quietly entered, large suitcase in hand. It was filled with many things that he needed. Food, clothes, water, money, steam balls, but most importantly, Bart's suit.

He loaded the suitcase into the back of Nightwing, got his gloves and goggles, and opened the walls that lead to the backyard, wincing as they let out loud groans. He hopped into his machine, and pulled the directions to Windland in his pocket. It was difficult obtaining the map itself, but more importantly, his destination was all the way across the country and would take weeks to get to. It'd just be around October by the time he arrived, and of course he couldn't tell anyone of his departure.

Well, he told one person, and that was Wally West.

He'd gotten to know Wally a bit more ever since he arrived, and Wally just clicked with him. He loved to teach Wally about engineering, and in exchange, Wally would teach him about the art of business. His wife was very interesting as well. She was a professional archer, martial artist, and chef, and taught Dick a thing or two in all of those aspects.

So, Dick had grown fond of the new couple, and he wasn't surprised. Having getting along with Bart so well, it was no wonder he'd come to like his relatives. He told Wally about his plan to find Bart, and promised him to not tell anybody about his departure. Mostly because if it was told, the departure would be stopped. Wally swore he wouldn't say a word, and Dick trusted him.

He started the engine, and snapped his head in the direction of the sound of yelling. A very irritated and tired Tim was screaming his name, demanding to know what he was doing, and Dick knew he couldn't just stop and explain now.

He exited, taking off into the sky.

Only to see the shape of _Robin_ following him just some distance away a minute later.

* * *

Zatanna's shriek was so loud that it echoed across the sky.

Bart was the first to zip out of his tepee, gasping at the sight. Zatanna began to collapse to her knees, and Bart caught her just before she fell.

"What's happening?" Chief Shadow demanded, then he gasped as well. " _Nina…"_

Bart watched in shock as Zatanna cried in his arms.

Jaime walked out of his tent, confused for a moment before approaching the bloodied, mangled body of Nina. He crouched down, and his armor covered his body. The rest of the tribe began to gather.

"What was it? An animal?" one of the male tribe members asked.

"No." Jaime shook his head in surprise. "Khaji Da says this was a human attack."

Bart could see Chief Shadow's eyes narrow, and he readjusted his grip on Zatanna.

"What do you mean human attack?" the large man demanded.

"He's scanning the blood on her right now. He says she fought back, and she didn't die here. Her body was dropped off. Hence why we didn't hear it happening."

Zatanna gasped. "Her daughter!"

"Huh?" Bart asked.

"When Sky got fussy, Nina would take her on walks to calm her down." Zatanna sniffled, a panicked look in her eyes. "Where's Sky?!"

The entire tribe stood with wide-eyes, and they frantically began to search for the lost daughter.

" _Bart!"_ Jaime yelled, and Bart nearly jumped.

"Yeah? What is it?"

"Come here. I need to talk to you in private."

Bart gently let Zatanna go, and he walked up to Jaime and crouched down with him. "What is it?" he whispered.

"Do you remember the town of Jesterson, and how there was bloodstains?" Jaime asked in a low voice.

"Yeah?"

"Well, this isn't just Nina's blood. She's also covered in Jason's blood."

Bart didn't know how to react, all he knew is that his face went pale and he felt his heart beat faster.

"Hermano." Jaime looked him in the eye, "We need to finish what we started. We need to kill Jason and Starfire."

"But where are they?" Bart asked.

"I don't know." Jaime admitted, and looked down. He sighed, his armor pulling back, and he ran a hand through his hair. "I'm not sure what to do."

"We'll figure it out." Bart insisted, and pulled his friend up onto his feet. "Come on. Let's go talk to Chief Shadow."

x

"No. The last thing I want you two to do now is to leave camp." Chief Shadow insisted.

"Chief, please." Bart begged, "We need to track them down to kill them."

"And do you have any leads as to where they might be?" the chief challenged.

"Well, no, not exactly-"

"Exactly." the chief interrupted.

"We can't just _not_ leave camp. This goes for any of the tribe members, not just me and Bart." Jaime argued.

Chief Shadow sighed. "I will arrange this, then." he said, "We will send out large groups of armed people at a time. Nobody may leave alone. When the large groups are sent out, one of you Gods must travel with them. The other two will stay at camp. And we will resume regular patrol procedures. Understood?"

"Understood." the other two replied in unison.

"So what will we do about Sky?" Jaime then brought up. "Chances are, if she wasn't killed, then The Outlaws took her."

"And are probably holding her for ransom." Bart added.

"Fine, then. Bart." Chief Shadow turned to him, "You will be the only one allowed to leave camp alone. You will find her and bring her back, but only that. Do not attempt to assassinate The Outlaws alone."

" _He'll get killed by himself!"_ Jaime protested. "If anything, you should send me out there! I'm the one with the bug on my back!"

"Now is _not_ the time for arguments, Jaime! You are to stay here!" Chief Shadow shouted.

Jaime didn't attempt to respond to him. He glanced over at Bart, a dreaded look in his eyes.

"Go when you feel you are ready, Bart. You are both dismissed."

They exited the tepee.

"I guess I'll fill up on something then head off." Bart shrugged.

Jaime bit his lip and didn't respond. Bart continued on, munching on a few pieces of fruit in his tepee. Jaime followed him in, and still didn't say a word, he just sat and read- or tried to read, at least- a spell book that never made it back to Zatanna's tent.

"You okay there?"

Jaime looked up from the book.

"No."

"Thought just as much." Bart stood up once he finished his meal. He opened his arms. "Come on. Say goodbye to me, her-man-oh."

Jaime got up, hugged him, and laughed a little. "Not 'goodbye'," he insisted, "This isn't goodbye. I'm going to see you again, ese."

"'Course you will. Can't just die on my best bud, can I?" Bart chuckled a bit.

Jaime laughed, but Bart knew he didn't find it funny at all. He could sense the nervousness in Jaime's tone of voice. "No, you can't." he separated their hug, still keeping one hand clasped on Bart's shoulder.

"I promise I won't." Bart reassured.

They were silent for a few moments.

"Really, I won't die." Bart reassured once again, "Well. I'll see you, Jaime." he sped off suddenly, and Jaime felt his hair be blown back by the sudden gust of wind.

He couldn't felt but feel sick to his stomach.

* * *

Tim had been trying for hours, but Dick finally had to land due to running out of steam. They were in rural Pennsylvania, nearly on the border of Ohio, and there was no train station in sight. Dick was glad he had brought extra steam balls.

"Dick!" Tim shrieked as he landed. He walked towards Dick as he replaced the steam ball. "What are you doing?!"

"Replacing my steam ball." Dick said, tossing the empty ball into the backseat of _Nightwing._

"You know what I'm talking about!"

Dick didn't respond.

Tim's voice softened. "You're going after Bart, aren't you?"

"Yeah." Dick nodded. "Did Wally tell you?"

"Wally knew about this?" Tim cocked an eyebrow.

"Well, then that's a no." Dick concluded.

"No- I just heard the backdoor of our lab being opened. You know how loud it is, Dick. And I wanted to see what was going on."

Dick didn't respond for a few moments. He then switched the subject. "Need a ball?"

"No, I have my own."

"Oh. Okay. So you're coming with me, then?"

"I guess now I am." Tim grumbled. "I hate to be so pessimistic, Dick, but this is stupid."

"It's not stupid." Dick argued.

Tim sighed. "It'll take us weeks to get there."

"I know."

He sighed again, but didn't say anything in response, figuring it was useless to have an argument now.

Dick began to eat a snack he brought with. Tim's stomach growled.

"Do you have anything to eat?"

"No."

Dick tossed him a chocolate bar.

"Now you do." Dick smiled at his little brother.

* * *

Bart swore he spent the entire day searching the entire west for Sky. There was no sign of her or The Outlaws.

After four days, he began to wonder if Khaji Da had gotten everything wrong, and Nina truly was attacked by an animal and her daughter eaten. His stomach dropped when he came across Windland on the first day, however. Rotting bodies, broken buildings, charred-black everything. It was disgusting, and it was horrifying. And it could become The Longshadows within a matter of hours if he, Zatanna, and Jaime didn't take them out in time.

He was fighting the urge to return to camp, but Chief Shadow had given his orders, and his orders were that he was to find Sky. And Sky wasn't at camp.

That first night, Bart had a nightmare. He dreamed that The Outlaws actually did kill everyone in the Longshadows except for him, Jaime, and Zatanna. They spent their nights together in the freezing snow, trying to run away from the seemingly invincible criminals, but it was no use. He watched Zatanna and Jaime die right in front of him. Then, Tim and Dick appeared for some reason, but by the time they'd gotten there, Bart was killed right in front of them. Bart awoke from that nightmare breathing heavily and gasping at the sight of a human silhouette, laughing to himself as he realized it was only a scarecrow.

 _I am going to find Sky. I am going to kill The Outlaws. I am going to save the Longshadows._ He told himself to try and calm down as he listened to the crickets in the night. He fell back asleep, and didn't wake up until dew from the morning grass dripped onto his face.

* * *

"I don't exactly want to break the law." Tim looked around nervously at the train station surrounding them.

"What choice do we have, Tim? Literally all of the balls are empty." Dick snorted at the sentence, then shook his head. "We'll just fill them up real quick, grab some snacks, and get back to flying. No biggie."

x

Tim couldn't stop checking over his shoulder as he screwed off the pipe to a train and put his first steam ball into the pipes that connected. It wouldn't be long before the train would start moving, and he'd need to get his task done quickly.

" _Hey, kid! What are ya doing?"_ a small man in dirty suspenders and horrendous teeth yelled. Tim panicked, picking up a rock and throwing it at the man.

"Oh god!" he yelped as the man fell backwards to the ground, unconscious. Again, Tim checked his surroundings. Nobody seemed to notice what had happened.

He let out a sigh of relief, whispering " _Sorry."_ to the fallen man.

* * *

Bart's blood went cold as he heard the crying of a baby echo through the mountains.

He sped to the source, and peeked over a boulder.

Jason and Starfire were standing there, looking down at the little girl in Starfire's arms. It was most definitely Sky, and Starfire was calming her down.

 _Grab her and go. Grab her and go. Grab her and go._ Bart kept telling himself.

He was about to act on it, when he heard Jason speak.

"Y'know, Star, I know we can't have kids of our own." he said, and smiled at her. "Maybe we shouldn't kill her. Maybe we should raise her. Have her be our daughter. Train her to be one of us. Make her our perfect little soldier. We've already had her for a few days, after all."

Starfire smiled at him, "I would like that." she admitted, "I am not exactly fond of murdering children."

"And that would be the ultimate revenge." Jason went on, "We'll definitely take out Bart and Jaime, and their witch bitch too, but they'll die knowing that one of their people has become one of ours, after trying to stop us for so long. That is the most disgraceful way to die."

"I agree." Starfire laughed. "Jason, you are twisted, but that is what I love about you."

"Why don't you say we take this back to the base?" Jason suggested.

Starfire nodded. Bart slipped back behind his rock as they began to walk back.

He couldn't help but panic a bit. He couldn't do this by himself. He wanted to go back and get Jaime, but by the time he'd get him, he'd lose track of Starfire and Jason.

He followed them, and felt his heart drop into his stomach as he stepped on a twig.

_Out of all things he should've noticed._

He could hear Starfire and Jason stop in their steps, and Bart's heart beat so fast and hard he was certain that they heard him.

"Must've been a rabbit or something." he heard Jason say, and they continued to walk.

Bart followed them until they walked into a very tight crevice just behind a waterfall.

_So that's where they're hiding. Under a waterfall._

He wondered what to do now. He was smaller than Jason and Starfire, but he'd still have to squeeze through the opening get inside. If he sped his way inside, he'd probably rip the flesh off of his shoulders. No, his only option would be to vibrate through, but vibrating through things like rock exhausted him, and he wasn't in the mood to do a naked baby rescue.

So, he stalked.

Bart stalked the entrance of that base for a long time. He could hear a few words every now and then, but couldn't really make out what they said. He only left to grab some things to eat, but other than that, he made himself comfy in the bushes, watching the entrance. Nobody had exited.

By the time night fell, a soft green illumination poured its way out of the cave entrance, and the only noise was the sound of crickets again, and the occasional laugh from the base.

Bart tried his best not to do it, really, but those bastard crickets lulled him to sleep.


	15. A Chronicle Of Bats (PT 3)

Bart woke up the next day with a growling stomach. Sitting up, he at first wondered where he was, but then remembered. He peered back into the cave entrance.

Oh, right. He had to get Sky.

Without thinking twice, he ran in the narrow entrance, hissing as he felt some of his skin be scraped off. He searched the room for Nina's daughter.

He then realized why he didn't run in there yesterday.

Jason and Starfire sat on a quilt with a few pillows stuffed with hay, Jason stopping whatever he was eating mid-chew. Bart yelped as a blast from Starfire sent him straight into the hard wall of the dark space.

Jason calmly walked up. "I've been looking for you." he grabbed Bart by his hair, and looked at him with a smirk on his face. "You're the search party, huh? Where's your friends?"

Bart, still dazed and confused, sent a punch at Jason's face. It wasn't the most powerful one in the world, but it was enough to make Jason's nose bleed. He snarled, picking up Bart and throwing him against the wall. " _Alright, you little shit. You've been a fucking pain in my ass since forever, and boy do I just want to snap your stupid little fucking neck."_

He sent a punch at Bart's eye, and Bart winced in pain. " _But I'm not going to. Because why? Not because I want to hold you ransom. Not because I want to attempt to side you with me again. Because if I kill you, that just takes the fun out of things!"_ he grabbed Bart's neck, cutting off his air supply. He gasped, clawing at Jason, but he couldn't escape. Jason let go of him, and Bart collapsed to the floor. "You're fucking pathetic." He gave a sadistic smile. " _Pathetic."_ he repeated and kicked Bart in the stomach, and he gasped for air again.

"Star, take our little girl outside, won't ya? This is nothing a child should witness." Jason insisted. Starfire nodded, standing up with the baby in her arms, and she squeezed out of the entrance. Jason turned back to Bart, still retaining his evil grin. "Listen here, you ass." he crouched down. "Look at me."

Bart did just that.

"I hate you, Bart. I do, really! I hate you so much that killing you would be unsatisfying. Nah, buddy. You're staying alive. Y'know how you used to work at STAR? You work with Barry at all in his chem lab? I'd assume so, since you're his unfortunate second-hand offspring."

Everything was quiet for a few moments before Jason sent a hard slap across Bart's face. "Answer the question, I don't have all day! Did you work in the chemical lab or not?"

"I did!" Bart shouted, trying to cup his throbbing face, but Jason slapped his hand away.

"Awesome. Then you should know that Barry loves his science experiments. He loves his tests. Well, kiddo, you're my experiment. I'm gonna fucking torture you in every way there is, and see which one is the most effective, and follow through with that. How does that sound?"

Bart stared at him for a moment before attempting to run off again, but the back of his head was met with the solid rock of the cave. He yelped.

"You can't run away. You're too weak. You know this." Jason lectured, "Tsk, tsk, tsk." he then smiled again, "I'll only let you die under one condition- if I kill your friends first."

"You're not going to see them." Bart spat.

"No? I guess it's just you, me, Star, and our daughter, then."

"N-not your daughter." Bart stuttered, gasping.

"No? Well, who are you to determine that?" Jason laughed, "You're nobody. Star and I are going to raise her. We're her mother and father now, and there isn't shit you can do about it. You're going to watch us become our little soldier."

"You can't keep me around forever." Bart insisted. "In fact, the only way you can keep me from running away is if you keep me in the condition I'm in. So if you keep this up," he gestured to his severely injured self, "I'm not going to make it past the first year. So no, I won't see you corrupt a Longshadow."

"Y'know, you've been pretty mouthy this entire time, Bart," Jason commented, "it's unlike you, kiddo. Not the Bart I know. He would shut up and nod like the passive little fucking queer he is."

Bart was about to throw a punch, when Jason caught it. "Aw, did that hit close to home? Don't worry about it, bud. You'll be back to your old self soon. In fact, I could make it even sooner if I break your jaw." he stood up, and Bart flinched, expecting such to happen. Jason simply laughed, and patted Bart's cheek, which hurt more than it should due to the slap earlier. He walked over to somewhere else in the cave, and Bart had no idea why, but he fell asleep.

x

"It's been five days since we've seen him last. We need to send out a search party." Jaime insisted.

"Jaime, I do not want you to leave camp." Chief Shadow replied.

"And I don't want my friend to die!"

Chief Shadow didn't respond.

Jaime sighed, "Look. I have a scarab in my back. He can find Bart, Sky, _and_ The Outlaws within a day, most likely. Zatanna can fend off intruders by herself for the meantime."

Chief Shadow looked down. "Be like the wind, Jaime. Move quickly."

Jaime smiled. "Thank you, sir." and he exited the tent without another word.

x

"How rude of you to just fall asleep on me." Jason grumbled as Bart began to wake up. "Look, isn't that sweet?" he gestured to Starfire, who was putting the baby to bed. "We're not bad parents, Bart. We love our little girl."

Bart sat up, everything feeling like it was aching, and he looked over to the sight.

"You made a mistake coming here, trying to fix something that wasn't broken." Jason commented. He turned to Bart and tossed him a few berries. "There's your meal."

Bart looked at the berries. "Are these poisonous?"

"Jeez, I hope not. I can't have you dying on me just yet." Jason chuckled.

Bart rolled his eyes and began to eat the berries.

x

They were poisonous, but not deadly.

Bart spent the entire night vomiting and having diarrhea. Jason made him take it outside, and then beat him afterwards for stinking up the cave, then made him clean up his mess.

It was only day one.

x

" _Get up."_

"Huh?" Bart asked as he got up.

" _Shh!"_ he felt a hand cover his mouth.

Bart looked to see Jaime holding Sky. His eyes brightened.

"Take her." Jaime whispered, "Scarab says you're injured pretty bad, but Bart, I need you to run as fast as you can back to camp." he handed Sky to Bart. A plasma cannon formed in his right arm, " _Hold up Khaji, not now-_ I'm going to kill Jason and Starfire."

"I wouldn't be that hopeful about it."

A glowing, green pulse and part of Starfire's hand could be seen behind Jaime's head. Bart dashed off with the baby, and turned around from the outside to see the cave's ceiling suddenly collapsing in on itself, and water from the waterfall began to flood in, seeping out of the entrance. He watched as Jaime soared out from the open ceiling, his armor soaked, and he flew up to Bart.

" _What are you doing, ese?! Run!"_

Bart sped as quickly as he could back to camp, Sky screaming and crying in his arms. He collapsed to the ground once he reached camp, his body aching with immense pain, and he gasped for air but never seemed to be able to hold a breath.

One of the tribe members scooped Sky out of his arms, and others ran to him, checking on him. The last thing he could remember was the horror on Zatanna's face.

x

Bart woke up to Chief Shadow's yelling.

"Jaime, Zatanna, I've had _enough!"_ he screeched, " _You will kill them. Go out and seek them if you must. Whatever you must do! They've tormented our tribe long enough!"_

"Yes, sir, we understand." Bart heard Jaime say. "We will try our best, I promise. It's just been difficult."

Chief Shadow then began to go on a rant, which Zatanna and Jaime endured. Bart looked up at the top of the tepee he was in, and could make out the night sky through the fabric, stars shining down at him.

He wanted to give up.

He was like Chief Shadow. He'd had enough. He couldn't take it anymore. No matter how hard he tried, he just couldn't kill The Outlaws. They'd been " _The Outlaws"_ for over a decade for a reason. Nobody, not even him, Jaime, or Zatanna, could put a stop to them.

The west wasn't property of the white man. It wasn't the property of the natives. No, truly, it was the property of The Outlaws, and they'd been tricking everybody this whole time. The whites and the natives would fight for who owns what, not knowing that Starfire and Jason were going to end up winning in the end.

Feelings of wanting to flee back east again filled Bart. He wanted to run back to New York City and try again. He could take Jaime and Zatanna with him, perhaps. But he knew that was more than likely not to happen. Neither of them would dare abandon the tribe, and Bart didn't want to, either. But he felt like his options were so limited, and everything was difficult.

He ate the meal that was set out for him, and fell back asleep.

* * *

"Dick and Tim have been missing for days now, Barry." Bruce sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose, "I believe that they've gone after Jason."

"It took you this long to figure it out, Bruce?" Barry laughed a little. "Of course they have. I thought you knew about it!"

"No, I didn't." Bruce grumbled. "Did you know about this?"

"No, I simply figured, Bruce. I wouldn't be the one they'd seek out for permission to leave." Barry pointed out, "I figured you were asked for permission, and you granted them it."

"No. Nothing like that happened. Why would I grant them permission to do something like that?" Bruce asked.

Barry shrugged.

Bruce sighed again. "So they'd been planning this out. Do you know of anybody who could've known about this?"

"Wallace, perhaps."

"Then bring him here immediately." Bruce insisted.

" _Immediately?_ But Bruce, he and his wife are helping Iris in her garden today! Surely you wouldn't want to-" Barry cut himself off when he found Bruce glaring at him. "Fine, fine, I will give them a call." he walked up to the telephone on Bruce's desk and contacted his home. After the call was given, he looked up at his business partner.

"We are not to go after them, are we? I'm too old to travel across the country, Bruce I-"

"We'll have to see."

And that was all that was said on the matter.

* * *

Two corpses were left in the middle of camp the morning after Sky's rescue. They were children, a boy and a girl, and twins. Khaji Da said they were taken in their sleep and killed somewhere else before being brought back, and confirmed it was the work of The Outlaws as well.

It happened because Zatanna and Jaime weren't there. In fact, they were out hunting for The Outlaws.

The only silver lining was that Sky was still around, but that wasn't much of a silver lining considering how awful the situation was.

There wasn't much they could do except mourn the lost members, hold a ceremony for them, and bury them next to everybody else.

Chief Shadow was at a loss of what to do except keep everybody at camp until they ran out of food. Strict portions began to take place, and Bart would watch as everybody- including himself- slowly began to starve.

Bart would try his best to get food for the tribe as quickly and efficiently as possible, but it wasn't enough. A few more months of this and everybody would die. According to Khaji Da, 3.729 months exactly.

It didn't help that winter was coming, either.

The nights only got colder, and the tribe was only getting skinnier, and they'd spend every night shivering it away. Bart would find himself snuggling up to Jaime for warmth from his armor, not unlike in the underground base back in July.

"What _is_ that?"

"A large bird, perhaps?"

"No, no, it couldn't be. Its wings are still!"

"Look, there's two of them!"

Jaime and Bart exited their tepee early that morning to find two large flying things in the sky. Bart gasped. "They came!"

"Who?" Jaime asked, "Scarab says it's a-"

"Dick and Tim! That's them!"

"Oh? Well, Khaji thinks they're heading for Windland."

Bart sped off without warning.

x

"Dick! Tim!" Bart yelled as the flying machines landed. Bart could hear Jaime yelling his name in the distance, but he ignored it. He ran across the rubble that was once Windland, and up to Dick as soon as he exited _Nightwing._

Dick yelled as he was suddenly thrown onto the ground all of a sudden. "Oh my god- Bart!" he laughed, "Didn't expect to see you so soon."

"Dick, you don't know how much I've missed you. And Tim, too." he looked around to where Tim was and sped up to him, squeezing him tightly in a hug. Tim wasn't expecting it and jumped.

" _-forgot you had super speed."_ he mumbled mid-hug. They both then heard a scream from Dick, and Bart turned around to see a bemused and armored-up Jaime rolling his orange eyes. They then met his own.

"Bart!" he yelled, and Bart let go of Tim. Jaime continued to scold him as he walked up to him. "You can't just go running off like that!"

"They're my friends, Jaime! I haven't seen them in months!"

"Still!"

"Oh, so you're Jaime, huh?" Tim asked, smiling. "I've heard of you. Can't exactly say you were described as… _this,_ though."

Jaime rolled his eyes again, and his armor pulled back.

"Well, shit, that makes more sense." Dick grumbled as he approached the group.

"Why'd you two come here?" Jaime asked.

"Sheesh, don't be so rude." Bart grumbled.

"We wanted to see him, and once we figured out where he was, we were off." Dick explained.

"I can't exactly say we're in the position to be having visitors." Jaime countered.

"Are you two living together?" Tim asked, "Do you have a house, Bart?"

"We live in a tribe." Bart explained, "And we're under some fire." his eyes widened, "Did Wally tell you about-"

"Jason? Yeah. We assumed you took him out." Dick said.

Bart rubbed the back of his neck, "Well, no, not exactly…"

"Jason and his girlfriend, Starfire, have been a problem for us for a really long time." Jaime explained, "Our tribe is starving to death because we can't afford to leave camp without the risk of somebody being killed. And they have killed our members before."

Tim and Dick looked at each other. Dick spoke. "Let us help you."

Jaime looked down. "I'm not exactly sure-"

"No- listen, Jaime, I've known Jason for many years. I know how he thinks and acts. I can help, and so can Tim." Dick insisted.

"Let's give them a chance." Bart insisted. Jaime looked over to him for a moment.

"Sure. But if anything happens-"

"If anything happens, then anything happens." Dick said, and laughed a little. "Where do you guys live?"

x

Landing on the mountain wasn't as difficult as Bart imagined it in his head. Both machines were parked some distance away from the camp and tied down for precaution.

"So what's happening with Jason?" Dick turned to Bart as they began to walk towards camp.

"It's a long story that I can explain after we eat. I can tell you everything that happened." he promised.

"You two are both going to have to meet and talk with Chief Shadow," Jaime warned. "You'll know who he is when you see him."

The tribe members watched in interest as they entered the camp, trying to figure out as to exactly what the machines in the distance were.

Zatanna approached. "Who are they?"

All of a sudden, Dick froze in his tracks. " _I'm D-D-Di-"_ he stuttered.

"He's Dick. I'm Tim." Tim stepped in.

Zatanna's eyes brightened. "Oh! You're Bart's friends. Well, nice to meet you. I'm Zatanna. Also Bart's friend." she chuckled a bit and stuck out her hand.

Tim was going to shake her hand, but then Dick suddenly grabbed it. He quickly shook it. " _Dick!_ I mean, my name's Dick. Dick Grayson. Son of Bruce Wayne, America's richest man." he smiled at Zatanna.

"As am I." Tim glared at Dick as he shook Zatanna's hand.

"Well, it's really nice to meet you two!" Zatanna exclaimed. She then turned to Jaime. "I'm assuming they haven't yet, but have they met Chief?"

"No."

"I can cast the language spell on them and have them talk to Chief. You two can tell the tribe what's going on." Zatanna insisted. Bart and Jaime shrugged and walked away. "Alright," Zatanna grinned to Tim and Dick, "Hold still, boys."

x

Later that day, dinner was about to be served. Dick and Tim were telling certain people of the tribe about their flying machines and how they worked.

Tim, who was sitting directly next to Bart, turned to him during the middle of dinner. "By the way, where's Valor?"

Bart bit his lip. "I'll show you after dinner."

x

"Here he is." Bart mumbled, walking up to the grave.

"Oh my god," Tim breathed, "what happened?"

"Was destroyed in battle. Starfire shot him with one of her orbs. He exploded."

"What do you mean 'with her orbs'?" Tim asked as he crouched down to get a better look at Valor's grave.

"Well, Starfire isn't a human. She's an alien. From a planet called Tamaran. Sounds hard to believe, but once you see her… suddenly, it isn't." Bart explained.

"Is Jaime an alien, too?" Tim asked, looking up at Bart.

Bart shook his head. "No, but the bug on his back is. Tim," he rubbed the back of his head and laughed a little, "I've seen a lot of stuff since coming out here, to say the least."

"Sounds like you have quite the story to tell." Tim commented as he stood back up.

"I do." Bart agreed, looking up at the sky. The stars were starting to show up more and more, one by one. "Look," his eyes fell back on Tim, "Jaime and I patrol the tribe at night. You and Dick can stay in our tepee, that one." Bart pointed out. "And I'll explain everything tomorrow."

"You sound tired." Tim commented once again.

"I am." Bart agreed once again. Tim smiled once again, giving him a hug.

"Love you, Bart. I can tell you've been through a lot. I'll see you in the morning." Tim promised.

"Goodnight." Bart said as Tim separated their hug and began to walk away.

"Goodnight!" Tim called out. He then turned around. "Also, Dick and I have a present for you in the morning!"

"Huh." Bart said to himself. A present? What kind of present could they possibly give him? Tim and Dick were engineers, amazing ones at that. The possibilities were practically endless.

Deciding to forget about it for the night, Bart walked up to the place where he and Jaime met for patrol. Jaime was already waiting there, and he sat down, leaning up against a boulder. Due to the chilliness from the combination of the time of year and the high elevation, he was fully covered in armor.

"So, your friends seem interesting." he commented.

"They are." Bart nodded. "You don't know how much their coming to see me means to me."

"I can see it means a lot." Jaime commented. "The one you were just talking to- Tim, right? Wasn't he the one who built Valor?"

"Yup." Bart replied. "Was just showing him his grave, actually."

"You never showed me how the bird worked." Jaime laughed a little.

"Oh." Bart said, "Yeah, I know what you're talking about. Well, it's kind of difficult now that he's destroyed. Tim can probably tell you about him regardless. You'll have to talk to him. In fact, both of them are probably really interested in how Khaji Da works."

"I have no idea how he does. I'm sure he could dumb it down for me and really explain it if he wanted to, but I'm not interested enough to sit back and listen- he doesn't like that I just said that." Jaime smirked.

Bart laughed a little. "What _does_ Khaji like?"

"He likes you." Jaime smiled a bit.

Bart seemed surprised. "Really?"

"He says you're not as much as a nuisance as most humans are." Jaime laughed.

Bart laughed, too.

* * *

 _"You knew about Tim and Dick's departure and you never thought to tell anybody?!"_ Bruce slammed his hands on his desk, and Wally winced.

"Mr. Wayne, I'm sorry. Dick requested that I didn't-"

 _"Just because he requested it does not mean you are supposed to keep quiet!"_ he yelled, and took a breath, about to speak again, but Barry stepped in.

"Bruce, enough. Wallace, you are dismissed."

Wally slowly began to scoot out of his chair.

Bruce glared at him. _"You are not dismissed."_

 _"He is dismissed."_ Barry argued, and then waved Wally out of the room. Bruce had been looking down at his desk, and didn't speak until he heard the door close.

"Well, I'm at a loss of what to do, Barry." he admitted.

"I say we wait." Barry suggested, "Surely, they'll return."

* * *

"Bart, wake up." Tim whispered in the afternoon. "I have your present."

Bart blinked for a moment before sitting up. Tim was standing over him, suitcase in hand.

"You got me a suitcase?" Bart asked.

Tim chuckled. "No, Bart. Open it."

Bart grabbed the zipper, then paused. "Where's Dick?"

"He's been hanging out with… what's her name-"

"Zatanna?"

"Yeah. He's been hanging out with Zatanna pretty much non-stop. So I decided to just bring you the present myself." Tim explained. "Cm'on, open it." he urged.

Bart did, and was still just as confused when he first saw the suitcase. It looked like a folded up piece of clothing. It had a brass color with a dull shine to it, and a circle with a lightning bolt as an emblem in the center of the chest. There was a matching set of goggles as well.

"It's a suit that can withstand phasing through walls." Tim explained as he took it out, "So you won't vibrate out of it like you do with regular clothes. Also, there's gears in these boots that allow you move smoothly." he pointed to the boots. "And the goggles are too keep bugs out of your eyes. But basically, you can go as fast as you want when wearing this, is pretty much what I'm trying to say. And you won't have to be naked doing it."

"Wow, Tim!" Bart exclaimed, "Thank you, really. I wasn't expecting something as great as this. Did you make this?"

"Well, not entirely. I only helped with the goggles part. Everything else was done by Barry and Dick." Tim explained. "Anyways, wanna take it out for a test run? We should see how fast you can truly go."

"On it." Bart nodded, and before Tim could even process it, Bart had already gotten himself in the suit.

"Looks good on you." Tim nodded.

"Feels a bit tight on my ass, but otherwise, it fits pretty well, too." Bart laughed.

Tim laughed somewhat as well. "If anything goes wrong, just come running back here, alright?"

"I will." Bart nodded. He put the goggles over his eyes, "See ya, Tim!" he took off.

The sudden rush of wind entering the tepee alerted Jaime to wake up. "What's going on?" he asked as his eyes opened, revealing orange irises.

"Oh, good morning, Jaime- or afternoon, I think." Tim laughed a little. "I just gave Bart his present that Dick and I made for him."

"Present?" Jaime tilted his head.

"Yeah, it was a suit. I'm not sure if you know this, but if Bart phases through anything, his clothes fall off. The suit was made so that wouldn't happen. He's taking it out on a test run."

"Where'd he go?" Jaime asked.

"Not sure. He just took off." Tim said.

Jaime sighed, pulling back his armor. "Let's just hope he doesn't do anything stupid."

"That isn't likely." Tim chuckled.

Jaime nodded. "I'll give you that one." he was quiet for a few moments. "So, how did Valor work?"

x

Bart laughed as he ran, feeling the wind blow his hair back as he traveled eastward. It was amazing how his suit moved with him, and he kept pushing himself to go even faster.

_Faster!_

_Faster!_

_Faster!_

_Cm'on, Allen, you can do better than that!_

The ground beneath him began to tear up. Trees bent sideways from his force. He soared past a little cottage; its windows broke, and a good portion of its siding and shingles were ripped right off.

_Whoops._

Still, he pushed himself to go faster, until he finally felt himself begin to run out of energy. He slowed to a stop, and he placed his hands on his thighs, catching his breath, and he looked at his surroundings.

He was in a city.

Not just any city- this was Chicago, and the surrounding folks gave him an odd look, most likely due to his attire.

He ignored them, however. How long had he been running? Surely it wasn't too long- maybe ten minutes at best. Had he really scaled over half of the country in ten minutes?

He looked in front of him, and he felt his heart drop. Yes, he was in the city of Chicago, he knew. But where he was in the city of the Chicago was not anywhere he expected to be.

He was standing right in front of his own home.

He attempted to open the door, to which it was locked. He vibrated through, pleased to find that the suit wasn't left behind. He looked inside. The entire house was empty, with the exception of the dining room table and some chairs.

His head tilted in confusion as he saw ghostly images of himself and his father sitting at the table.

_Bart sat with his arms crossed, looking at the floor. "I don't want to marry Cissie."_

_Don looked up at him, though Bart wouldn't meet his gaze. "What do you mean?"_

_"I don't love her. Not in the way I'm supposed to." Bart admitted, "At heart, she's my sister. My friend. Not my lover, not my bride."_

_"You've been courting Cissie for almost two years, Bart." Don pointed out, "Surely you love her. Besides, your wedding is in two months. You may just be nervous."_

_"I'm not just nervous." Bart grumbled, "I thought marriage was supposed to be about love, pap. But it seems you want me to marry her because of the money. You got to marry the woman you love, you took her over money. Why can't I do the same?"_

_Don didn't speak._

_"I don't mean to disrespect you," Bart continued, "but this idea you've got going on in your head- it's hypocritical, pa."_

_Don slammed his coffee on the table, causing some of it to spill out. Bart looked up at him in surprise. "Don't you call me that! You can't compare our situations, Bartholomew. Miss Canary and I hated each other's guts, polar opposites, we were. Had we been alone during our courtship, the woman would've stabbed me with a knife! At least you and Cissie get along, at least you have some kind of love!"_

_"But that love isn't close enough!" Bart said, and stood up, clenching his fists. "Regardless of what I feel about Cissie right now, or if I absolutely hated her, I'd still have the same idea in mind- to not marry her."_

_Don stood up, "You are going to marry Cissie Jones! I'm not trying to be mean, Bart! Don't you realize this is what's best for all of us?"_

_"You were a good father, Donald Allen, but you are a goddamn hypocrite and that's that!" Bart yelled._

_"Don't you say the lord's name in vain, Bartholomew! Enough out of you!"_

Bart shook his head as his father's words still echoed inside of his mind. He glanced back over at the table. There was nothing.

He hesitantly stepped over to it, and inspected the table. Termites eerily crawled on and into it. He let out a disgusted grunt. No wonder it was still here.

He heard a creak, and his head snapped over to the direction of the door. His father stepped in, but he looked like a creature straight from hell. He had no eyes, only pitch black sockets. His face was sunken in, and his jaw was broken, dangling from the rest of his head. He limped inside, and Bart didn't know what to do. He stood frozen in fear.

He heard voices to his right. He turned around again. He could see himself and his mother eating dinner.

" _I'm here."_ Don's raspy voice came out as he approached his family, and his jaw loosely jumped as he spoke. " _I'm home."_

There was silence for a few moments. " _I'm home, don't you hear me?"_

Though he had no eyes to narrow, Bart could see him getting angry. He began to scream. " _Hello?! I'm here! I'm home! I'M HERE!"_

Everything froze. Everything fell silent. Except for Bart, of course. He felt himself breathing heavily, his heart beating rapidly in his chest.

Don's head slowly turned towards Bart. " _There you are."_ he cooed eerily, and began to limp towards him. " _What are you doing? Why have you been gone?"_

Bart yelped and he began to run out of the house, though the monstrous entity managed to yell one more thing as he tore after him.

" _YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO BE DEAD, BARTHOLOMEW!"_

Bart destroyed the door as he burst through it, and impacted somebody in the street. He sat up, helping the lady who he had knocked over get back on her feet, and he mumbled his apologies as he did.

She dusted off her dress and blinked for a few moments before getting a good look at him. " _Bart?"_ she asked, and then her eyes brightened. " _Bart!"_

He felt himself be wrapped in the lady's arms. Bart was so shaken from what just happened, he didn't have any idea who the woman hugging him was. She looked him up and down. "Now what in the hell are you wearing? Also, why haven't you ever sent me a letter? What happened in New York?"

He began to mumble. " _I've been, uh-"_ Letter! Of course, the letter. She was Cissie Jones! "Oh, Cissie! Yeah, uh, something happened!"

"I know something happened, Bart." her voice lowered as she glanced around herself. " _Everybody thinks you're a witch. In fact, we should probably move this somewhere a bit more private."_

"I, actually, uh-" he cleared his throat, "I've gotta get back."

"To _where?"_

"The west. That's where I live now. Entirely new life and all." he let out a nervous laugh. "I'll see you, Cissie. I promise I'll come visit when my life isn't… whatever it is right now." he took off running, and he heard her yell a " _Wait!"_ as he left, but he didn't listen.

He was supposed to simply take the suit he'd gotten on a test run, and he knew Jaime would yell at him for being gone for so long.

Once he arrived back to camp, his prediction came true. Jaime began to go off on him once Bart said what happened, scolding him about how it was a stupid move to run all of the way into a largely populated city as well as one so far away. Dick intervened, telling him to calm down. When that didn't work, Zatanna had to be the one to step in and finally make Jaime take a few deep breaths.

"I just didn't want him to get hurt." he mumbled.

"Well, he wasn't, Jaime. He's fine. Come on, let's go relax." and Zatanna lead him away.

Dick turned to him, and smirked a bit. "So, Chicago in ten minutes, huh?"

"Yep. I like this thing." he gestured to the suit, "No complaints."

"Well, that's good." Tim replied. "Why were you in Chicago for so long?"

Bart bit his lip and looked down. "Some stuff happened."

"You weren't chased by police, were you?" Dick asked.

"What? No!" Bart's head shot back up. He sighed, and explained what happened.

"Yeah. Seeing dead parents. I've had it happen to me a few times. No fun." Dick mumbled, and before he could say anything else, there was a call for dinner.


	16. A Chronicle of Bats (PT 4)

Bart awoke to a loud crash of thunder. He quickly sat up, tearing himself from Jaime's hold, looking at his surroundings. He gasped as he saw somebody staring down directly at him.

But then he paused, continuing to look at the figure that stood before him.

" _Tye?"_  he whispered, looking over to Jaime, wondering if he should wake him up.

Tye didn't say a word, he simply extended his arm out, offering to help Bart up. Bart hesitated, slowly reaching out to him, and was surprised to find that Tye's touch was warm.

"But you're supposed to be dead." He said as he stood up, and then got a better look. Tye was slightly transparent. "Oh." he chuckled a little. "You are dead."

Tye smiled a bit, as if he wanted to laugh but couldn't. He then tightened his grip on Bart's hand and began to lead him out of the tent. "Woah," Bart said, "Hold up, one second." He planted his feet to the ground, "Where are you taking me?" he asked as he began to get poured on by the rain.

Tye simply turned to look at him, then turned away, continuing to guide Bart away.

"Tye!" Bart hissed, "What's going on?"

Again, no answer. Bart couldn't get away, and he was lead away from the camp. The rain picked up and it was pitch black except for the lightning that would temporarily light up the sky. The ground was slick and slippery, and he skidded with each step.

They finally stopped near a waterfall. The icy waters aggressively rushed down the mountain, and the storm along with its howling wind didn't help. Bart yelped as he felt himself be pushed.

He screamed as he tumbled down the water, not knowing how he was dodging any rocks. He gasped for air as his limbs flailed, and he screamed at the top of his lungs for help. He reached the bottom of the mountain, and began to flow down a stream to which he finally found a log to hold onto. It was slick and he could barely keep hold. He felt himself be yanked onto the shore, and he collapsed to the ground, looking up at Tye.  _"What the hell was that for?!"_  he screamed. _"You nearly got me killed!"_

Tye just pointed at a cottage some distance away. It was surrounded by forestry and the only way Bart could make it out from the trees was because of the lightning. Wind howled and Bart shivered, not realizing how frore he was. The cottage door swung open and a man stepped out. Bart knew he wouldn't be able to make it back up to the mountain in his condition, so he hopped across the stream and ran to the man's house.

" _Help!"_  he yelled above the thunder, " _I'm freezing to death!"_

He finally got close enough to recognize the man standing there. He skidded to a halt, falling backwards and landing on his back. Jason's laughter could be heard above the thunder, and he walked out towards him. Bart sat up, trying his best to gain enough balance to stand up, but could not. Jason paused for a second, glared at something behind him, and then his laughter stopped. He finally got close enough to Bart, and Bart sat silently, shivering in fear.

But to his surprise, Jason extended out his hand, letting out a friendly smile.

Bart was even more terrified than when Tye offered his hand. But he still had one of two options; freeze to death outside, or take Jason's hand and possibly survive. He clasped it.

Jason pulled him up and then swung him over his shoulder. Bart wasn't happy about it, but he tolerated it, too preoccupied thinking of what was going to happen next. Jason was to take him inside the cottage, most likely, and then he thought about what he'd said in the past. How Jason said he'd torture him in every way possible. Maybe they'd hold him as ransom for his friends. Whatever it was, it wasn't going to be good.

Jason opened the door and sat Bart down on an old chair by a weak fire. "You look like you need a change of clothes. Would you like some?"

Bart's eyes narrowed. "What's this about?"

"Hmm," Jason pretended to think, "I know this may come as a shock to you, Bartholomew, but I don't have any intent upon hurting you. We need to talk. So, do you want the change of clothes or not?"

"Sure." Bart mumbled.

Jason walked up a set of narrow stairs. Bart stared into the flames and wondered if he should try to make a run for it now. Jason returned with a blanket and some clothes a minute later. He tossed them to Bart.

"Some privacy?" he requested once he realized Jason wasn't leaving.

"I've already seen you naked, there's nothing that's going to phase either of us." Jason insisted, crossing his arms. Bart rolled his eyes and quickly changed, wrapped the blanket around himself, and left the wet clothes on the floor.

Jason sat down in a chair next to him, and they both looked into the flames for a minute before Bart spoke up.

"What's this about?"

"I was going to ask you the same thing, until I saw your friend."

"My friend?"

"The chief's son."

"He's dead."

"Exactly. Did you not see him?"

Bart bit his lip. "Well, no, he took me here."

"I had no idea you died, Bartholomew." he gave Bart a grin.

"How would you know?"

"Do you not know the consequences of dying and being resurrected?"

"No?"

Jason chuckled, and he stared Bart in the eyes for a moment. Bart didn't know why, but he felt like his privacy was being invaded. Jason was just  _staring_  at him, as if he was diving into his soul.

"Ooh, ouch." Jason laughed. Bart cocked an eyebrow. "You poor kid, felt so confused, lost, and anxious… you just felt the need to just… walk away from it all. And by walk away I mean, walk off a cliff and thump to the ground, of course. Your resurrection was sweet, though.  _You got a hug."_  he teased.

Bart's eyes widened. " _How did you-"_

_He coughed as he felt himself bleeding out, the dry heat blazing against him, the sun nearly blinding him._

" _And that'll teach you not to take my crops. Say Hello to God for me, boy." an old farmer with a rifle in his hand spat out a piece of straw in his mouth and began to walk away._

_Blood pooled around him, staining his clothes. He gasped for air, and he began to see black spots before he was gone completely._

_He opened his eyes to a teenage girl standing over him, letting out a sad smile, her bright blue eyes meeting his._

" _Who- who are you?"_

_She uttered something and disappeared._

" _Zatanna?"_  Bart asked, confused. "What just happened? Why was Zatanna there?"

"Don't you get it, Bart?" Jason laughed. "You just saw my death. We both died, and we were both brought back to life by her. And now we face the consequences." he began to roll up tobacco.

"But why? Why did she revive you?"

"If I'm to be honest, I'm not sure myself." he shrugged, "My best guess is that I was only thirteen at the time, and she couldn't stand seeing a young kid die. Her mistake." he lit up the tobacco. "I find it amusing that she didn't even intend upon reviving you upon the discovery of your death. It was your  _boyfriend_  who was begging and crying." he snickered. "Maybe she realized what a mistake I was and she didn't want to repeat it." he leaned back in his chair. "And Bart, you act like your resurrection it isn't bothering you. But it is. You're hiding it from everybody. Including yourself."

Bart bit his lip.

Jason continued. "When one dies and gets resurrected, he can see spirits- when they choose to show themselves, of course. But that's not bad part, now is it, Bart? Because when a man dies once, he can die again. And he may be brought back again. And again. But this entire time, he knows exactly when his final death awaits him. When he won't come back. He doesn't know how, but he knows  _when._  Bart," he looked him in the eye, "I only have a few days to live."

Bart didn't respond.

"Shouldn't this come as a relief to you?!" Jason almost seemed angry.

"I don't want to think about it." Bart mumbled.

Jason smirked a little. "Are you telling me you've been hiding your own death day from  _yourself_ this  _entire time?_  You died  _months_  ago. Now  _that's_  dedication!"

Bart sighed. "Alright. I get the memo. You're going to die in a few days. So what? What of Starfire? Does she know this?"

"No."

"Shouldn't she have the right to know?"

Jason shrugged, puffing at his tobacco. "It's been fun, fighting you." he switched the subject.

" _Really?"_ Bart disagreed. "You thought this was  _fun?"_

"I've had an exciting life." Jason went on, "I feel fulfilled. Ready to go. I've played my role. So, Bart," he smiled, "if me dying by your hand in three days satisfies you, I'll do it as a favor to you. As a thank you for keeping me on my toes. Keeping my life thrilling. You've been a good sport."

"You're insane." Bart grumbled.

"Perhaps I am."

Thunder shook the house.

"Feel free to spend the night here. I doubt you want to go home in this weather."

"What about Starfire?"

"I'll let her know you're here." he stood up and began to walk upstairs. He paused. "And Bart," he said, turning his head around, "I may only have three days to live, but those three days are fair game. Just so you're aware." and he walked up the stairs.

x

Bart nodded off and woke up the following afternoon, having the biggest crook in his neck that he'd ever have. He winced, rubbing the back of it, and looked at his surroundings, at first wondering where he was. And then he remembered. Neither Jason nor Starfire were to be seen. His stomach dropped, and he sped out of the house, the ground mushy and the sky cloudy. He began to run back up the mountain, but it was too slick, and he fell right back down. He tried again. He slipped off again. He let out a yell of frustration, slamming his fist on the ground.

" _Tye!"_  he yelled, and it echoed across the sky. " _Tye, I could use a little help here!"_

Nothing. His stomach growled, and he shivered.

Jaime was probably worried sick. The tribe was probably in trouble. He circled around the mountain, trying different ways to get up. He finally managed to get up on an edge that stuck out from the side of the mountain. He cheered, about to grab the next thing to climb, but his surface broke beneath him, and he screamed as he began to fall towards the rocks at the bottom of the mountain.

" _Ezeerf!"_  echoed across the sky, and Bart felt himself stop moving midair. He looked behind himself, gulping when he realized how close he was to the rocks. He looked back, watching Zatanna slowly descend from the top of the mountain. She smiled at him as she reached the bottom. "Hi, Bart."

"Hey, Z. Can you let me down?" Bart nervously chuckled. She snapped her fingers, and he fell right into her arms. She helped him back on his feet. "No traction to get back on the mountain, huh?"

"Nope." Bart confirmed. He laughed and rubbed the back of his neck, "So, on a scale of one to Jaime, how worried is Jaime?"

"He's been looking for you all day, despite Chief Shadow telling him  _not_ to." she chuckled, "The only reason I figured out where you were was because I heard you struggling to get up the mountain. In fact, let's get there now." Zatanna suggested, uttering another spell. She grabbed Bart's hand, and they both ascended upwards together and landed with ease.

"There he is!" Dick said as he and Tim walked up, "Your friend's been freaking the hell out and went looking for you. Where were you?"

"I was-" Bart cut himself off, and turned to Zatanna. "Can we talk in private, please?"

"Why? What's wrong?"

"I just need to speak with you privately. Tim and Dick will be fine by themselves. Please, Z."

"Okay, um," her eyes darted back and forth, "I suppose we could talk in my tent."

"Good idea. Let's go." he grabbed her wrist and quickly lead her there.

"Bart, what's wrong?" she said once they got inside.

"Zatanna. Why didn't you ever tell us that you brought Jason Todd-" he stopped himself. "Why?"

Zatanna's eyes widened, and she looked down to the floor, her face losing its color. "It was a long time ago." she mumbled, "I was practicing my magic somewhere relatively secluded when I heard a gun go off. I was new to the…  _area,_ and I no idea what a bad person he was. I tracked down where the shot went off and I saw that he was dead. Bart, I couldn't just let- I just couldn't him be dead like that, he was still only just a kid. So... I revived him."

"Zatanna," Bart placed a hand on her shoulder and she looked up at him, "why didn't you tell anybody about this?"

"I figured that if I did, everybody would hate me. That I'd be untrustworthy. But I truly had no idea, Bart, I swear."

"It's okay." Bart reassured. "In fact, I have news about Jason and his… life, I guess."

"What is it?"

"He's got two days to live." Bart informed her.

"What? How do you know this?"

"Last night, I was dragged out of my tepee. By Tye." Bart explained, "He lead me throughout the mountain, not saying a word. And he pushed me down a waterfall. I washed up near a cottage, and I yelled at Tye for almost killing me." he laughed, "I know this sounds extremely absurd, but I swear it's all true."

"I believe you." Zatanna nodded.

"Jason came out of that cottage. He saw Tye as well. And he brought me inside. He gave me fresh clothes and we… talked, basically. We learned about each other's deaths, and he told me about how he had only a few days to live. Because when you die and come back to life, you know when you're going to die next. And he talked about how it eats away at you."

Zatanna blinked away tears. "Bart, I'm so sorry." she took a moment to pause. "I should've never let Jaime convince me, I never meant-"

"Z, it's okay." he laughed a little. "If it makes you feel better, I don't know my death date. I've been hiding myself from it. If I'm not careful, I can let it slip, but I honestly don't know."

"But it's probably driving you insane hiding it." she wailed a bit, "Oh my god. What have I done? How could I have acted like you were just fine? I-"

Bart held her in a secure hug. "I'm not mad at you, Zatanna. There's nothing to be guilty over. I'm glad I was resurrected. But we need to focus on Jason right now. He warned me right before I fell asleep that that even though he was going to die, the next couple of days were fair game. Meaning he could be planning on sabotaging the entire tribe at any time. With so little time left to live, he knows he has nothing to lose."

As if on cue, screams were heard outside. Zatanna and Bart rushed out.

" _Duck!"_ Bart yelled as he saw a green blast drop from the sky and into the camp's fire. He threw himself over Zatanna, screaming as he felt the flames sear his back.

 _"Snrub laeh!"_  Zatanna yelled, and Bart stood up, instantly recovered. He ran around the fire surrounding the camp, depleting it. He was about to help an elderly woman who had collapsed, but Jason caught his attention.

"Hey, Bart!"

Bart snarled, about to charge after him, but then stopped as he noticed Starfire dangling an unarmored Jaime from her hand. He was unconscious and badly beaten.

"Go fetch!"

Starfire launched Jaime off the mountain as if he were a ragdoll, and Bart tore off after him, barely able to stay on the mountain himself.

_If I manage to leap far and powerful enough, I can catch him and hopefully land in that pond._

He jumped, grabbing Jaime from the air, but his plan didn't go as anticipated. He fell on his back, grunting as he impacted it. He slid down what remained of the mountain and screamed as he felt the sharp rocks slice his back open, trying to keep Jaime out of harm's way, but there was no way to completely avoid him getting damage.

They slid to a halt, and Bart continued to yell in pain, feeling himself begin to bleed out. Perhaps today was his death day. He was too fucking scared to find out and he was going to pay the ultimate price for it- and Jaime was going to wake up atop of a dead body.

He needed to find out.

" _Tell me!"_ he yelled to the sky. " _What is it?!"_

_June 12th, 1901._

_At thirty-four years old._

Today was not that day. He laughed a little, but it hurt. He looked up at the sky, watching as he saw  _Nightwing_  in the air, battling it out with Starfire. She yelped as bullets from the chain guns bombarded her, and Dick barely dodged the green blast that followed. He continued to fire.

"Do you really think those pathetic bullets can end me?!" Starfire yelled.

"Nope!" Dick yelled over his engine's noise.

 _"Llaf erifratS evah!"_  Zatanna's voice boomed, and Starfire shrieked as she began to drop out of the sky. She hit the ground nearby Bart, and he winced at the thump she made. He turned his head to see her lying on the ground, surprised she wasn't splat to bits. She sat up, growling. Badly injured, but alive and conscious.

" _It's gonna take more than that to kill me, witch girl!"_  she shrieked.

Bart's had forgotten Jaime was lying on top of him, but his attention turned back to him once he realized that Jaime was armoring up, and his orange eyes flicked open. "Jaime!" he exclaimed happily, and then winced as it hurt.

" _I am not Jaime Reyes. The host body is unconscious and has sustained many injuries. However, it is not damaged enough to the point where it is incapable of eliminating the Starfire."_ He sat up, formed a plasma cannon, and shot it directly at Starfire, who screamed from the blast. He sent a few more blasts at her and then put the cannon away. " _The subject is deceased."_

"Wow," Bart coughed, "You didn't even think to get off of me before killing somebody?!" he continued to wince.

" _Unnecessary."_

Bart wanted to roll his eyes, but he was already out.

x

"So this is the new STAR Brat, huh?" Jason spat.

Tim narrowed his eyes.

"Long time no see, Dick, how are you doing? Still being Bruce's good little errand boy?" Jason teased, and struggled against his restraints.

"Give it up, Jason. We won." Dick crossed his arms.

"That you did." Jason agreed, laughing a little, licking the blood that ran down from his nose. "Do you want a cookie or something?"

Dick sighed. "Tim, go check on Bart and the others for me, would you? I'll deal with Jason." Tim nodded, walking away and into Zatanna's tent.

"When will he be recovered?" Jason asked.

"I don't know. Why?" Dick inquired.

Jason smiled. "I want him to kill me soon. Of course, if that can't be achieved, I can make other arrangements."

"Huh?" Dick then shook his head, "No, we're not killing you. We're turning you into the law where you can spend the rest of your life behind bars. But even then you'd probably be executed."

Jason let out a chuckle that sent shivers down Dick's spine. "Oh, big brother. There isn't much  _life_ left to live." he grinned. "In two days, I'll be gone. Poof. See ya. And I'd wave, but-" he gestured to his hands that were tied behind his back.

Dick wasn't amused. His eyes narrowed. "What's this game you're playing?"

Jason grinned. " _Tag."_

x

"How is he?"

Zatanna scoffed. "Alive." she looked over to Jaime, who was sitting in the corner. "The scarab is healing Jaime as we speak."

"Is he even aware he killed Starfire?"

" _He did not._ I  _did."_  The scarab seemed annoyed.

"Okay, aware his body killed Starfire?" Tim corrected himself, rolling his eyes and laughing a little.

" _No. I will inform him upon waking up."_

"When will he?" Zatanna asked.

" _Scans show it is likely he will be conscious within the next hour."_

"What happened to him?" Tim asked.

" _He foolishly unarmed while on the lookout for the Bart Allen. He was unaware the Outlaws were nearby, and Starfire had shot an orb at me before I had the chance to completely deploy the armor. I was damaged and forced to retract, leaving Jaime Reyes exposed. He was injured, and by the time I was healed enough to bring my systems back online, it was hours later."_  Khaji Da explained.

"You did what you could, scarab." Tim tried to console. "You took out Starfire. We couldn't ask for more."

" _She was already injured and I could not surpass the opportunity."_

"Huh? What's happening?" Bart mumbled as he woke up. He attempted to sit up, but Zatanna pushed him back down.

"It's over, Bart." she informed, "I'm still in the process of healing you. You suffered some nasty injuries saving Jaime."

"Who brought me up here?"

" _I did."_

"Jaime?"

" _Bart Allen, are you an idiot? Are you not aware that I am Khaji Da? You have already been informed that I took control over Jaime Reyes' body."_

Zatanna and Tim laughed.

"Since when did you value human life other than your own?" Bart teased.

" _I chose to save you for logical reasons, Bart Allen. You have proven yourself to be a crucial part of my host's life. Your death would have made Jaime Reyes devastated, which will in the long run take a physical toll on his body. It has happened once. It does not need to happen again."_

"Aww." Zatanna said, "See, Bart, he really  _does_  care about you."

Dick entered the tent. "Zatanna. Tim. We're going to need all of the help we can get out here. Will Bart be okay on his own?"

"Think you'll be okay by yourself?" Zatanna asked Bart.

"I have Khaji Da to keep me company. I'll be okay." Bart insisted.

" _I am not designed for companionship."_

The others chuckled before exiting.

"Well, if that's the case, I'm probably going to go back to sleep." Bart yawned, and he flipped to his side.

x

 _"Sirbed pu elip."_  Zatanna commanded, and Dick watched as the excess rubble around the camp was put into a neat pile.

"Nice moves." he said.

"Y'know," Zatanna smiled, "I think you and I make a good team."

"R-really?" Dick blushed.

"Yeah," Zatanna nodded.  _"Worrableehw."_  she summed a wheelbarrow in front of Dick, "Which is why  _you_  can figure out where all of this debris will end up." she teased as she moved on to help with something else.

Tim passed by. "Jeez, could you make your puppy crush anymore obvious?"

"Nooope." Dick swooned.

x

"Bart?"

Bart blinked his eyes open and flipped over. "Oh hey, Jaime."

"I didn't mean to wake you, it's just-" he stopped himself. "Thanks."

"For what?"

"For saving my unconscious body from dying?" Jaime laughed.

"Oh, that? Did the scarab tell you?"

"He's informed me on everything."

"Oh, uh, you're welcome, I guess."

"You  _guess?"_  Jaime teased.

Bart rolled his eyes. _"You're welcome."_

"So, uh, can I…"

"Can you?"

"The scars? Can I see them? I mean, they're probably still there."

"Yeah, sure." Bart rolled up the back of his shirt. "Are they?" he then jumped at the feeling of Jaime's hand on his shoulder. "Jeez, a forewarning would be nice, her-man-oh."

"Sorry." Jaime apologized as he leaned closer to Bart's back, "I'm trying to get a closer look. I can't really see any- oh, there's one right here." he traced his finger down the scar. Bart shuddered. "Oh, sorry." Jaime apologized, stepping back.

"No, it's-"

"I guess I should see what's going on outside." he said, and he walked out. Two gunshots went off, and the tribe screamed. Jaime snapped his head towards the direction of the gunshots. Bart came running out.

"What happened?"

"Not sure. It looks like-"

" _Chief Shadow!"_

Everybody began to run to the chief, who had fallen to the ground.

"Wait, where's Jason?" Dick asked.

"Nevermind that! Where's Zatanna?" a tribe member asked.

"She went out with Lily to gather herbs." another member responded.

"I'll go find her." Bart promised, but then stopped himself when he spotted something unusual.

 _Robin_  could be seen starting up and it began to ascend.

"My machine!" Tim cried.

"I'll get him!" Jaime said as his armor began to cover him.

"No, Jaime." Chief Shadow uttered out. "Talk to me. And Bart,"

"Yes, Chief Shadow?"

"she will not return in time. Do not pursue her. I want-" he let himself take a deep breath, "I want you to be here."

"What is it you want to speak about, Chief Shadow?" Jaime asked.

 _"Take. Over."_  he commanded, "You are in control of the-" he coughed, "the tribe now."

Bart and Jaime exchanged concerned glances. Chief Shadow continued to cough before his head nodded back.

The tribe wept, and Jaime stared for a moment before walking off into his tent. Bart followed suit. "Shouldn't you be-"

"I should be doing  _a lot_  of things right now, Bart. After all,  _I'm_  the chief." Jaime unarmed and sat down, placing his hand on his forehead. "Jason got away."

"Can I offer some consolation?" Bart suggested.

"How?" Jaime looked up at him.

"Well," Bart sat down next to him, crossing his legs, "Jason's only got two days left to live."

"How do you know?"

"He told me."

"And you're taking his word for it?"

"I am, but here's a thing you've gotta understand." Bart continued, "When somebody dies and they're resurrected-"

"Like you?"

"-like me, they know when they're going to die again. But for permanent. They know the exact date."

"Wait, so you know when you're going to die?" Jaime seemed shocked.

Bart nodded.

"Doesn't that drive you crazy? Doesn't it-"

"I'm trying not to think about it. But Jason was resurrected just like me. When you were out looking for me this morning, that was because I was guided to Jason's cottage that he was staying in last night. By Tye."

"Wait, really?"

"Really. When you die and come back, you can see spirits." Bart then went on to explain the entire ordeal from last night. From when the thunder awoke him to when Zatanna explained why she brought Jason back to life. Jaime agreed that he wished Zatanna would've told them about it sooner, but wasn't mad. He talked about feeling worried when he realized Bart wasn't at camp in the morning, and feared that he was somehow captured by The Outlaws. So, though Chief Shadow told him not to, he went on a search. After a few hours he decided to take a rest and pulled back his armor, when they struck. Being defenseless without Khaji Da, they beat him until he was unconscious.

"There you guys are." Zatanna said once she returned. "Just got a fill on what happened. I'm sorry I wasn't-"

"Quit apologizing, Zatanna." Jaime insisted. "None of this was your fault. Nobody was expecting Jason to escape."

She was silent for a few moments before switching the subject. "I heard you're Chief now." she said.

"I am." he sighed.

"Well, Chief, you better get out there and get something done. You can't just hide in your tepee anymore."

Jaime sighed, standing up and exiting. Bart began to follow, but Zatanna stopped him. "Think Jason will return?"

"I'm not sure." Bart admitted. "He's only got two days to live, I think he's gonna spend them doing other things. I'm pretty sure he's already gotten his ' _sabotage'_  fill from today."

Zatanna scoffed. "We can only hope."

x

Chief Shadow's ceremony, which was held along with two tribe members who had lost their lives during the day, was not a quiet one. The sobs of the tribesmen echoed across the sky, sending shivers down Bart's back.

Afterwards, Jaime pulled Bart aside. "You'll be doing night patrol by yourself now."

"What? Why?"

"I'm the  _chief_  now, Bart. I can't afford to wake up in the afternoons anymore. I need to be awake when most of the tribe is. Do you think you can handle it?"

"I mean, I can handle it, but-" he cut himself off. "No, you're right. Go get some sleep, Jaime. I'll be okay."

Jaime stared at him for a moment before pulling him into a hug. "Thank you."

"For?"

"Are you always gonna ask that?" Jaime giggled. "For everything. Do you remember when Lex Luthor came to camp, asking us to take out The Outlaws?"

"Yeah, what about it?"

"That still would've happened regardless of whether or not you came in. So… thank you. For coming by. For being here. Because these last few months? They would've been a lot worse without you. Thanks for sticking through all of this shit with me." he separated their hug, and smiled. "I love you, Bart. Don't forget that."

And of course, that statement made Bart's heart beat a million times a minute. "Oh, really? Haha. Awesome. Yeah. L-love you, too." he stammered, his face flushing.

Jaime patted him on the shoulder. "'Night, Bart." and he turned around to leave. Bart watched him walk away, and he took a deep breath, trying to calm down.

"You feeling alright?" Dick asked as he came up to Bart. Bart didn't look him in the eye. "Yeah, yeah. I'm alright."

"Cool. See you in the morning."

x

Bart fell asleep against a tree during his night patrol and Zatanna had literally snapped him awake at dawn. The first thing Bart saw that day was the disapproving glares of Zatanna and Jaime staring down at him.

"Sleeping on the job, huh? Chief Beetle here may just have to fire you." Zatanna smirked.

"Chief Beetle?" Jaime asked.

"What? Do you not like it?"

"My name is Jaime."

"And now you're Chief Beetle."

Jaime rolled his eyes. "I don't blame him at all for falling asleep." he extended his hand for Bart to grab, and he did such, and Jaime pulled him up. "After what we went through yesterday, nobody's gonna give you a hard time, Bart."

Still, Bart apologized. "Sorry. I still shouldn't have fallen asleep. Has anything bad happened?"

"Nothing's happened. This is Jason's last day to live, he's probably spending it doing other crazy things." Zatanna insisted. "Still, we'll keep an eye out."

x

The day was uneventful. Bart was bummed because Jaime was constantly busy with organizing the tribe, and by this point, it wasn't even that big. Tim, Dick, Bart, Jaime, and Zatanna were all not native to the tribe, and yet they still made up a third of its population by this point.

He spent the day bumming with Tim because Tim was disappointed that he'd lost his machine. Bart offered to go help him look for it, but Tim declined, insisting it'd cause further conflict.

But that night, Bart was bumming by himself because he was on patrol and Tim got to sleep. Near the hours approaching dawn, Bart was about to fall asleep, but a loud noise awoke him.

The noise of a flying machine. He looked up to the sky and could only make out its figure from when it was a silhouette in front of the stars. And it appeared to be spiraling out of the sky.

Bart gasped as the machine made impact with the ground and it exploded, lighting up the world. Jaime was at his side and fully armored within a second, the flames from below slightly reflecting off the metal.

" _What happened?"_

"Flying machine crashed... I think Jason is dead now."

"Put out the fire and we'll check."

"Mountain's too slick; you gotta carry me down."

Jaime grabbed him and they flew down the mountain, and Bart spun around the fire, eliminating it until it was nothing but charred blackness. Jaime walked up, the lenses of his armor illuminated. "Scanning for Jason." he began to dig at the rubble before he pulled out a body, which was barely a body anymore. The illumination faded. "Guess we'll have to inform the tribe."

He picked up Bart and they landed back at camp, an array of "What was that?" questions bombarded them.

Jaime silenced them all.

"The Outlaws are no longer a threat."


	17. Virgil Hawkins' Curse (PT 1)

**VIRGIL HAWKINS' CURSE**

"Can I talk to you about something?" Tim asked as he pulled Bart aside the following evening before dinner.

"Hmm?"

"It's just that… Dick and I have been here a while, and with, y'know, Jason no longer being a problem, then maybe it's time we took off."

"Oh?" Bart asked. "If you want to do that, I'm not going to try and stop you. Just remember to say goodbye first."

Tim nodded, "I'll make sure of it. I mean, I haven't even talked to Dick yet, so he may want to stay a little longer. Just thought I should let you know."

"'Course."

x

"Actually, I was thinking…" Dick stopped himself.

"Thinking what?" Tim inquired.

"You'll think I'm nuts." Dick looked down.

"I just might." Tim acknowledged.

"I was thinking maybe we could bring Bart back. But before you stop me- Zatanna could come with us. She could disguise him with a spell and nobody would know. That way we'd get to have  _both_  of our friends and have them be with us all of the time." Dick explained.

Tim rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Dick," he began, "Bart was accused of witchcraft. Zatanna is an  _actual witch._  What if she's caught doing something? She'll be  _killed."_  he sighed, "Besides, if anything happens to blow Bart's cover, he's gone to us, too. And all of this is under the assumption that they'd even agree to come with. They have friends here too, y'know. Like Jaime. He can't leave, he's the chief."

"He doesn't  _have_  to come with." Dick insisted.

"So you'll put an emotional toll on him when he loses his  _two closest friends?"_  Tim challenged, "Dick, I get it. You want to go back to STAR. You're also in love with Zatanna and miss Bart. But the perfect life with them just can't be achieved. You're thinking purely on your feelings. And Bruce would-"

"Guys?" Bart asked as he entered the tent. "Dinner's ready."

"We'll be out in a minute." Dick responded.

There was silence.

Tim broke it. "How much did you hear?"

"Enough, I guess." Bart sighed. He allowed himself inside. "Can I be honest?"

"Of course." Tim insisted.

"I'm torn." Bart admitted. "I want two completely worlds to… be together, I guess."

"What do you mean?" Tim asked.

Bart sat on the floor. "I do want to go back to STAR."

"See?!" Dick hissed. Tim rolled his eyes.

"But at the same time, I want to be here. With my speed, I love being able to be free out here. To run out everywhere I can, and just…" he let out a deep breath. "My father… Don… he had an array of knowledge built up from  _years_ of being at STAR labs. And he threw it all away for being with his love. And I don't want to throw that potential away like he did. I'm not even close to the level you two are on when it comes to making things, but with time I can be. I can make things, be an inventor, help further the entire species, be remembered as a genius rather than a, y'know, witch that terrorized New York City."

"You both know by now that I died and Zatanna resurrected me. But it doesn't go without cost- and I know when I'm going to die again. I'll be thirty-four. I've lived nearly half of my life already. I don't have a lot of time left." Bart let out a scoff, "So I have to figure out… do I want to spend that time doing  _what_  I love, or being  _where_  I love."

Tim and Dick were silent for a few moments, the only noise in the tepee being the muffled voices of tribesmen from the outside and a soft howl of wind. Tim walked up to Bart, gripping his shoulder reassuringly.

"We'll let you figure that out. Okay?"

Bart gave a sad smile and nodded. Together, all three sat down together to eat dinner.

During that time, Bart could see Jaime giving him a series of concerned glances, darting his eyes away each time Bart looked back over. Bart decided to ignore it, finished his dinner, and sat under a tree for patrol, wrapping himself in a hide.

It was a full moon tonight, and snowflakes gently fell towards the ground. Bart had no idea what day, or even month it was by now. October? November? Who knew.

He heard crunching behind him and snapped his head in that direction, relieved to find it was just Jaime. "Hi."

Jaime sat down next to him and seemed as if he wanted to speak, but didn't.

"Thought the chief wasn't supposed to do night patrols." Bart teased.

"Can't sleep." Jaime muttered.

"Why's that?"

"You'll be mad at me if I tell you why, hermano."

"Why's that?" Bart repeated.

Jaime sighed. "I was going to ask you why you, Dick, and Tim were taking so long to get out to dinner earlier today… and I overheard you say that you were going to die when you were thirty-four."

Bart didn't know why that made him feel scared. He felt bad for Jaime having to find out that way. "Yeah. I am." he acknowledged.

" _Not now."_  Jaime hissed. Bart raised an eyebrow. "Khaji. He thinks he's figured out why that is… why you,  _y'know_ , in your thirties."

"What is it?"

"Apparently since you have super speed, you're also aging much faster. When you're actually thirty-four, your body will be well into its nineties."

"Oh. Uh… wow." Bart said, letting that sink in. "So does that mean I'm not biologically sixteen either?"

"He says you have the biological equivalent as somebody from nineteen to twenty-one."

"Oh. Jeez. Do I look all that different now that I've aged? I haven't noticed any difference."

"Me neither. Yet again we've been a bit too preoccupied with the whole ' _Outlaws'_ thing for anybody to notice." Jaime mentioned.

"Haha. Yeah."

There was silence for a few moments. Bart shivered.

"Are you cold?"

"Can't tell if I am or if that's just my body aging." Bart joked.

Jaime rolled his eyes and pulled Bart in close to him, Bart almost immediately felt the warmth from the armor as it heated itself up. He burrowed his head under Jaime's chin and let himself relax.

"So… yeah. The whole 'death' thing has been keeping me awake." Jaime admitted.

"I still have about eighteen years to live." Bart chuckled, "At least I'm not dying like, tomorrow."

"You're really trying to make light out of this, aren't you?"

Bart didn't respond for a few moments. "What else am I supposed to do?"

"Fair enough." Jaime acknowledged.

"Also, uh, I might go back to New York."

Jaime craned his head to look Bart in the eyes. " _What?"_

"It's just… Dick and Tim will be leaving soon and I might come with. I never wanted to leave New York in the first place. I want to go back to STAR labs, and, y'know, be an inventor. Engineer things. Further pursue chemistry, all of that. I have the opportunity, and with the opportunity comes a lot of potential."

"But you were-"

"I know. I'm sure we'd find a way to make it work out. But even then, I might not. I still want to be here with you, Zatanna, the tribe. And the general free, open, space is what I need to be able to use my speed to its fullest capacity. I just want two things at once and I can't have that. I don't know what to do. I almost wish STAR had its own factory open out here, with nothing surrounding it. Of course that wouldn't make any sense."

"No, it wouldn't." Jaime agreed. "And I'm guessing you have to make up your mind soon."

"I don't know." Bart chuckled. "Dick will probably postpone leaving as long as he possibly can. He wants to spend every day he can with Zatanna."

"Regardless," Jaime began, "It's been very little time ever since Jason died, and we've only had a few days to simply… not worry, if you get it. Windland definitely won't be bothering us, and we never always have to be on high guard for Jason and Starfire anymore. I just wish we could spend some time together being able to  _relax_  rather than you all just upping and leaving as soon as possible."

"Is relaxing not what we're doing right now?" Bart grinned.

"I mean… I guess."

"And,  _Chief Beetle,_  being chief, you can't just casually leave camp to go do stuff now, can you? You're always busy."

Jaime sighed. "You're right. And I'd love nothing more than to just hand off the position to somebody else, but Chief Shadow  _specifically_  wanted me to take it on because he knew I'd be the best suited for it. Our tribe is so small, Bart, there isn't many options. I-" he stopped. "Nevermind."

"No, what is it?"

Jaime hesitated for a few moments before speaking. "I'm afraid I may have to become a father."

"Wait, what?! Why?"

"Think about it, hermano." Jaime explained, "With such a small population, it needs as many people as possible. There's only ten Native Longshadows left, three of them are children and two of them are elders, and there's three women and two men. Meaning only half of the tribe are currently capable of continuing the tribe's bloodline, and Lily and Rain are directly related, so obviously they can't have a baby together, limiting our options even more."

"Don't rush into anything." Bart warned. "Being a dad… that's a lot of responsibility."

"I know. I don't want to be one. But there isn't much of a choice, hermano."

A howl of wind came after the silence that followed.

"I should get going back to sleep." Jaime lightly pushed Bart off of him and stood up. "You'll be okay by yourself?"

"Yeah, I'll be fine."

Jaime gave him a nod. "Alright. I'll see you tomorrow." he said before turning around and leaving.

Bart scoffed to himself. Time to lay back and relax? As if. Bart himself had to worry about whether or not he was going to stay in the west, and Jaime had to contemplate parenthood. There'd never be time to sit back and relax, and these weren't even huge conflicts- not compared to Windland and The Outlaws, anyways.

But Bart knew they were in a calm phase of life right now. He couldn't scratch away the feeling that another huge problem would come unexpectedly crashing down on them before they even knew it, as if it were a bolt of lightning.

x

Bart was asleep for approximately an hour before thunder awoke him. He sat up, gasping, expecting to find a ghostly figure in his tepee. There was nothing.

Rain began to pour down, bombarding his tent with thousands of droplets. He sighed, pulling his hide over himself, attempting to fall back asleep. The rain picked up, and water began to drip through his tepee. He curled himself into a ball and pulled the hide over his head.

The ground around him began to soak, and Bart grumbled, standing up, hide still wrapped around him. He heard Zatanna's voice outside.

" _Emod a etae-"_

The rain ceased, and Bart stepped outside, taking note of Zatanna's puzzled look and the clear sky. "What's wrong?"

"The raining stopped."

"Well, duh. You used a spell."

"No." she shook her head, "I didn't even finish the spell. Look." she pointed way into the distance, where storm clouds had gathered and several bolts of lightning were striking in one place.

"What the hell?" Dick asked as he, Tim, and Jaime looked up. "What's happening there?"

The realization seemed to hit Zatanna all of a sudden. "It's magic. Somebody's summoning all of the storm clouds to… most likely… use the lightning for himself."

"Should we check it out?" Bart asked.

"It's not exactly your problem." Tim replied.

"No," Jaime agreed, "It isn't our problem. But it can become ours if he destroys his town he lives in and everybody tries to run away to the mountains. Bart," he turned to him, "let's go. Zatanna, join us as soon as possible."

"Might want to start wearing that suit." Dick suggested. "You don't know what this guy is capable of. It'll prevent you from getting zapped."

The suit! Bart had forgotten completely about it. He ran back to his tepee and quickly put it on before coming back out.

"So that's what it looks like." Jaime said, scanning it. "...Neat." he then frowned. " _Scarab! Now is not-"_

"Guys? Think you should pursue lightning-man now?" Zatanna suggested.

"Right, right." Jaime nodded, picking up Bart and soaring down the mountain. Once he got near the bottom, he let Bart go, and he began to run towards the storm.

He stopped a few hundred feet away, eyes wide at the sight. A man looked like he was being consumed by lightning, and he was screaming at the top of his lungs. But not in pain, rather, rage.

Jaime landed next to him.

"Any idea what's going on?" Bart yelled over the noise.

"Nope. But scarab says we can disable him with a sonic attack. Move aside." Bart quickly did such, and Jaime pulled out a sonic cannon, sending the blue rings directly at the man. That's when he let out screams of pain, and he fell to his knees. The lightning he was summoning began to strike less and less, and eventually, the storm clouds dispersed, and he lay barely conscious on the ground.

Jaime exchanged his sonic cannon for a plasma cannon. "Move in. Let's approach him with caution." Bart nodded, and they began to walk towards the man, who was groaning as he lay limp on the ground. They finally got close enough to speak to him.

"Hey," Jaime began, "are you alright? You-"

The man sat up all of a sudden, letting out another scream, a flash of lightning coming out from his hand soared directly into Jaime's chest. Jaime yelped, and Bart threw himself over the man, forcing him to break his focus.

Lightning danced over Bart's suit, and both Bart and the man screamed as they were bombarded by blue rings.

"Sorry!" Jaime apologized. He put away the cannon, and Bart jumped away. The man continued to lay limp on the ground. Jaime narrowed his eyes for a moment before sending a punch directly under the man's jaw. "He's down."

"What the hell was that?!" Bart gasped, placing his hands on his knees, trying to catch his breath.

"I'm sorry, Bart, but I had to take him down as soon as I-"

"No, not that. Just…  _this!"_  Bart gestured to the man and then to the sky. " _What_  is he?  _How_  is he-"

"It's definitely not regular lightning." Jaime informed, "Well, it is when he's summoning it. But by the time it gets into his body, he tweaks it somehow. That's why I was struck and damaged so easily."

"But I wasn't." Bart countered.

Jaime stood still for a moment, listening to an explanation from Khaji Da. "It's because you're his equal match, essentially." he said, "The suit helped a lot, but your reaction to vibrate your molecules to keep the lightning away from your body is really what saved you."

"So, what does this all mean? If it's special lightning and all, is he a witch?" Bart asked, taking off his goggles and placing them on his forehead.

"Maybe. I'll see if Khaji Da can recognize him and see if he's in any official records." the armor's lenses began to illuminate, and were like that for a few seconds before going back to normal. "His name is Virgil Hawkins. Born in Louisiana, nearly eighteen years old… there's really nothing special about him other than the fact that, y'know, he can control lightning. No records of crime or witchcraft,  _nothing."_

"Virgil Hawkins?" Bart asked.

"Yeah, that's his name."

"No, no. I swear I know this guy from somewhere."

"Really? Where?"

"That's what I'm trying to recall."

"Excuse me?" an elderly woman in a bonnet began to waddle towards them.

"Stay back, ma'am." Jaime advised.

She didn't listen. "Aren't you the Blue Beetle?" she pointed a shaky finger at him.

Jaime sighed. "Yes, ma'am."

"We all thought you were evil. But you just took down a warlock!" she let out a hysterical laugh, "And who's this?" she gestured to Bart.

"I'm Bar-"

" _Impulse."_  Jaime cut him off. "His name's Impulse."

Bart whispered, "Jaime, why'd you-"

"Do you really want a bunch of strangers to know who you really are? Especially after what happened to you back in New York?"

"Fair enough, but what's with the new name?"

"It's fitting." Jaime muttered.

The hidden townsmen gasped as they saw Zatanna approach them. "That's the witch! That's the witch from Windland!"

Zatanna rolled her eyes, ignoring them. "What happened?"

Bart filled her in as a few folks from the street began to cautiously walk forward.

Virgil groaned, and Jaime instinctively pulled out his sonic cannon. He flinched and gasped in response, trying to scuttle himself away. "W-woah man, I-"

Jaime put the cannon away. "I'm not going to hurt you." he promised, putting his hands up. "But we need to talk."

"Y-you're Blue Beetle." Virgil stammered.

"That's me." Jaime acknowledged.

"Gee, Ja- Blue, you're sure famous around these parts."

"And she's- what are you all doing here?" Virgil asked, attempting to stand himself up.

"Virgil!" a blonde teenager cried as he ran up, "Virg, you alright? What was that? Woah!" he exclaimed as he saw the others before him. He didn't have much color in his face, but whatever was left in it quickly disappeared.

" _Richard Leroy Foley you get back here right this instant!"_  a middle-aged woman hissed as she stomped up towards them.

"Dude, your middle name is ' _Leroy'?_ " Bart laughed, then he frowned and murmured to himself. "Wait a second… Foley…"

Richie winced as his mother grabbed his sleeve. She pointed a finger at Virgil. "You are  _fired._ Do you hear that?!  _FIRED!"_  she screamed, and began to drag Richie away.

" _But Ma, he's my only friend!"_ Richie whimpered in the distance.

"Virgil. You're going to need to explain to us what's going on." Jaime stated. "What just happened with you?"

"Why should I tell you?" Virgil challenged. "Listen. I'm going to… guess I don't have much of a home now that the Foleys fired me… I'm going to go live somewhere else and I'll be off your backs. See ya." he gave a small wave, turned around, and began to walk away.

"Oh, no. I don't think so.  _Ezeerf."_  Zatanna commanded, and Virgil stopped moving. "You're using magic… and you're using it irresponsibly. Tell us what's happening."

"I ain't using any magic!" Virgil insisted. "Come on. Let me go."

Bart and Jaime glanced at each other. Bart spoke. "What do we do with this guy?" he whispered.

"Ah, yes, that question I would like to know the answer to myself."

Everyone turned their heads to the man who spoke.

He was skinny, pale, and had a long, coarse beard to make up for his balding head. He wore formal attire, a top hat which was a bit too tall, and on his face were a pair of thick rimmed circular glasses. His brown eyes were emotionless behind them.

"And you are?" Zatanna raised an eyebrow.

"Clint Mitchell, mayor of Reedbourne. I've heard an awful lot about you savages, I must say… however, I did not know I had my own personal town witch. No surprise there, he did come from Windland after all…"

It then clicked with Bart. Virgil Hawkins was the man who informed him of Zatanna's execution. And after The Outlaws destroyed Windland, the survivors had to move to the closest town, Reedbourne.

"We'll get him out of your town, sir." Jaime promised, "Don't worry about it. We'll take care of him."

"Take care of me. W-what does that mean?" Virgil stuttered.

"Oh, I don't think so." Clint shook his head, "Do not feel the need to, savages. Reedbourne will take care of its own business. Virgil Hawkins has publicly displayed malicious witchcraft and thus he is in no need of trial. I hereby sentence him to death by hanging, execution to take place immediately." he turned his head around, " _Nathaniel, ready a noose!"_  he turned back to the others. "Now now, scurry along, let us deal with the vermin."

" _I don't think so."_  Jaime snarled, activating a plasma cannon.

"Leave before you become our problem." Clint grumbled.

Jaime, Bart, and Zatanna looked at each other and nodded.

"Fine, fine, we'll leave." Bart agreed. "We'll skedaddle. We'll be out of your business, no problemo."

"Thank you. It is rather nice that you- where did they go?!" he looked around himself, but none of them, including Virgil, were in sight. He turned around to see them running and flying, far into the distance.

Clint Mitchell snarled, grabbed his top hat, and slammed it to the ground.

x

"Is this our guy?" Dick asked as the group returned.

"Who? Me?" Virgil asked as Jaime set him to the ground.

"Yep." Bart answered, releasing his hand from Zatanna's.

"He looks a lot calmer than he was earlier." Tim commented.

"Virgil." Zatanna then turned to him, "Tell us what happened."

Virgil sighed. "Can we sit?"

"Of course. Come by the fire." Zatanna lead him that way, and the others followed. The tribesmen stared in confusion.

"First off, I ain't a witch." Virgil said. "What you saw back there- I wasn't in control. And it doesn't happen often."

"So it's happened before?" Dick asked.

"Who is he?" Virgil asked.

"Dick, not now." Zatanna scolded. "So it's happened before?" she repeated.

"Yeah… once. It-" he paused, and his neutral state seemed to turn negative. "It's a long story."

"We'll listen, Virgil." Zatanna consoled, putting a hand on his shoulder.

"Okay. Here's the truth." he let out a sigh, "My parents are from Africa. Both of them. Their clans sold them as slaves when they were young. But my mom, when she was still a little girl, she did something to disrespect one of the elderly women of her clan, purposefully sabotaged her blankets with ticks because she didn't like the lady. Well, the ol' lady didn't take kindly to that. She was the kind of lady you hear about in tales, the voodoo, potion-making type lady. And she cursed my mom, something about how her firstborn son was to be eaten by lightning." he ran a hand through his hair, "But by the time my mom was all grown up, she'd of course forgotten about the curse. And she thought her future was bright. I was born a few months after slavery was abolished, and she thought she and my pa were home free. To have a happy life. And we did have an alright life, for a little while. I lived with them and my older sister Shannon, and we had our own farm. And then when I was twelve… I got so mad at my sister… over dumb things, like how it was her turn to do a chore, and it was during a storm, too… that I just… struck her. And I fried her, right there in our home. Burned a hole through the ceiling getting that lightning to come to me. And I remember after noticing I'd killed my sister, was through that hole in the roof, it was a clear blue sky out. Like I'd absorbed the storm."

"Virgil," Zatanna spoke softly. "I'm so sorry."

"Yeah, well, it doesn't end there." Virgil scoffed, "My ma then remembered the curse. She explained it to me, and then she kicked me out right then and there. No food, no clothes to pack, she didn't give me any time. She just told me what was happening and to get out, that I was a cursed child and had no place in her home. And I spent a lot of time traveling around, getting places. And I luckily found a spot as a servant for the Foleys. But obviously… history repeats itself. I don't belong there anymore."

"I know how you feel." Jaime said in a low tone, and Virgil looked up at him.

"How? I mean, you're a-"

"To everybody's shock, I'm just a regular guy." Jaime chuckled, peeling back his armor. "See?"

Virgil blinked for a few moments. "Wow." he said, then tilted his head. "What happened to  _you?"_

"We  _all_ have our own stories." Zatanna brought up, "And we'd be sitting here all night trying to explain all of them in a row. It's nearly time for dinner, we can talk more there. But Virgil, you're one of us. Feel free to stay."

Virgil's face brightened. "Wow? Really?"

She smiled and nodded.

"A-awesome! Where do I sleep? I-"

"We'll make arrangements." Jaime promised. "Zatanna, show him around, would you?"

"Of course." she said, "Come on, Virgil. This way." she sat up and began to walk away, Virgil and both Tim and Dick followed suit.

"Guess the tribe population is slowly rising, eh?" Bart asked, lightly elbowing Jaime in the side.

"I guess." Jaime acknowledged, "He's still not a Native, though. Before we know it, there won't be a Longshadow bloodline."

" _Jaime,"_  Bart said condescendingly. "Seriously? Who cares about bloodlines?  _Yawn._ Don't you get it? It's not the genetics that make the tribe, it's the customs. The companionship. The way of life, isn't that what makes you a Longshadow? If blood was so important, you wouldn't have been made chief, her-man-oh. Chief Shadow knew this. He considered you as much of a tribe member as he did his own son."

"You know, you may just be right." Jaime smiled, "I guess it was kind of a dumb way of thinking. But that doesn't mean our population isn't small. And it takes two to make a baby, we only have only six women in total, and two of them aren't even old enough to have kids of their own. We're seriously lacking in the female department."

"Can't exactly say I'm complaining." Bart smirked.

Jaime's eyes widened. " _Was that a-"_

"Yup."

" _Dios m_ _ío. I forgot I'm a- you're a- nevermind."_

"Geez, does it still make you uncomfortable, Jaime?"

"No, it's not you, it's-"

"You're still scared of Hell."

Jaime didn't speak for a few moments. "Yeah. That."

"Well, speaking as somebody who has  _literally died_  before, I'll let you know there's no such thing as Hell. Or heaven, for that matter. Death's like a long, dreamless sleep, and I guess at certain times you can choose to wake up and be a spirit. Overall… it's a lot less scary than you think."

"Wait, really?" Jaime seemed surprised.

"Yeah. It's kind of nice, actually. Too bad it won't happen again for another eighteen years." Bart joked.

"Don't talk like that!" Jaime scolded and playfully hit Bart, but then he laughed. "Dios mío, you're  _really_  trying to make light out of this situation."

"Well, yeah, I've gotta make the light now, it's not like I'll see it after I die." Bart shrugged.

" _Bart!"_ Jaime hissed. "Show some mercy for yourself!"

"Chief Jaime, I hope I am not interrupting anything, sir, but dinner is ready." Rain informed as he walked up.

"Thank you, Rain." Jaime nodded. He stood up to walk up to get something to eat, smiling as he saw Virgil, Zatanna, Dick, and Tim all laughing together as they sat down nearby.

x

Virgil woke up screaming, and he sat up, holding his head in his hands. Zatanna snapped awake. "Virgil, what's wrong?!" she exclaimed. Bart came zipping in.

" _Stay away!"_  Virgil screamed, lightning dancing across his body. Bart yelped as he felt himself get struck, his entire body feeling as if it were on fire. There was no way he could've dodged that- he may have been fast as lightning, but that also meant lightning was as fast as him. He fell back, feeling himself get caught by Jaime. He heard Jaime form a sonic cannon, and panicked.

 _"No-o."_  he croaked. The last thing they needed was to use it on Virgil again and lose his trust. But either Jaime didn't hear or didn't care, because Bart heard the cannon go off, and followed by the noise was Virgil's screech of pain before all was silent.

"Zatanna. Make him sleep."

" _Peels ligriV evah."_

"Bart, are you alright?" Jaime looked down.

"F-fine." Bart's voice croaked again, and he drifted off.

"He doesn't seem fine…" Zatanna commented.

"Scarab says he should be alright. His body has just gone into a state of shock- and before you scrutinize me for it, that wasn't a pun- to the point where it temporarily shut itself down. He'll wake back up. And besides," Jaime laughed nervously, "we know he's not going to die."

Zatanna sighed. "What do we do about Virgil?"

"I don't know." Jaime admitted. "I'm gonna carry Bart to my tepee and let him sleep. Khaji says it should be at least four hours before Virgil wakes back up again, but just to be safe, you should probably sleep there, too. I'll stay awake just in case anything happens."

"You sure you'll be fine?"

"Positive."

x

Breakfast that morning went with little mention of what had happened the previous night. Jaime pulled Virgil aside. "Hey, do you recall what happened last night?"

Virgil's eyes widened. "I thought it was… I thought it was a dream…"

Jaime shook his head. "It wasn't."

"Oh my god." Virgil cried, "At least I know... him-" his eyes darted to Bart in the distance, and something seemed to hit him. "Oh shit! Richard Drake!"

"Huh?" Jaime asked, then laughed. "It's a fake name, ese. He gave me that one, too. His name's Bart."

"Oh, for real?" Virgil asked. He laughed. "He talked to me a long time ago. Back when Windland was still a town. I was telling him about the hanging of Zatanna."

"To which, he attempted to rescue her when  _I_ was rescuing her, which caused a chase and me nearly killing him." Jaime laughed a little at the memory. That felt like a millennia ago.

"Is that how you two met?" Virgil chuckled.

"Yeah, it's- we're getting off topic. Virgil, what you experienced last night wasn't a dream. You seem to have a lot of… leftover lightning left in you."

"Right before I woke up, I had a nightmare about what happened to my sister. And I guess it was enough emotion in me to summon that extra lightning I had left in me… I was so upset…"

"So your powers work on extreme distress levels." Jaime nodded, "Scarab thinks that as well."

"Scarab?"

"He's a friend of mine. A permanent, constant friend attached to my back."

"Man, you've really gotta explain everything to me. I feel like I missed out on a lot."

"Well, you're not wrong. Feel lucky you got to skip past the whole ' _Outlaws'_  thing."

"Knew something about that. Seriously though, I need a fill in."

" _Really? Already? I mean… alright."_

Both Jaime and Virgil snapped their heads in the direction of Bart's voice.

"Yeah… I mean, you can come with, if you want…" Dick replied.

Jaime's eyes narrowed, and he walked up to where the conversation was taking place. "What's happening?"

"Tim and I are leaving to head back to New York City within the next day. We were wondering if Bart wanted to come with." Dick explained.

"I mean, Dick, I wasn't expecting to have to make a decision so soon…" Bart mumbled.

"It's totally your choice, Bart." Dick reassured.

"It's not. He's staying." Jaime insisted. "There you go, Bart. Now you don't have to bother making a decision."

"What the hell, Jaime? You're not the boss of him!" Dick growled.

"For as long as I'm the chief of this tribe,  _yes I am."_  Jaime insisted, "And it's not just that. I cannot afford him to leave right now. You know what happened with Virgil last night. I need Bart to stay to help figure out what the hell is going with him. We have a new problem on our hands and the last thing we need is Bart leaving to go back to a place where there's no guarantee he'll even be  _accepted_  in."

"I mean, I don't want to be a burden… I'll be alright if he goes." Virgil swore.

"See? Now you're just making the new kid feel like an outcast. He doesn't need to depend on anybody. He's lived out here longer than you, probably. He'll be fine, he doesn't  _need_ Bart specifically to help him solve his problems."

"I don't want to do it alone!" Jaime exclaimed.

"Correction: you don't want to  _be_  alone!"

"You say that, but you just want him to come back because you miss him!"

" _Then you imagine your best friend leaving on a sudden note with no promise of ever fucking seeing him again, and everybody in your goddamn life is trying to convince you you're an idiot for hoping you'll see him again!"_  Dick screeched, "Oh, wait. You'll experience  _exactly_ that, Jaime! Enjoy your fucking slice, everybody gets a piece of the shit-cake!"

Jaime could feel his armor crawling over his body. " _It's not the same!"_

" _It's not the same?!_  How?! Oh yeah, you have an entire tribe to fall back to. An entire tribe to comfort your sorry ass once he leaves.  _Boo-fucking-hoo!"_

" _You don't get it! It's not like that!"_  a plasma cannon formed. Jaime was too angry to try and stop it. He could see Dick's eyes widen once he took aim. Jaime felt himself be shoved to the ground, and his plasma blast burst against a rock in the distance. He breathed heavily, putting away the cannon, and looked over to Dick, who was leaning back and breathing heavily, eyes as huge as dinner plates. He felt the weight on top of him shift away, and turned his head in that direction to meet eyes with a horrified Bart.

"You tried to… I had to…"

Jaime stood up. "I-I'm sorry. I wasn't thinking, I…"

" _You almost killed somebody?!"_ Bart was getting angry. " _That's what you did, Jaime."_ he said in a disappointed tone. He turned to Dick and gripped his arm. "Hey. Are you alright?"

"I-I'm fine." Dick stuttered. "I should be okay."

"Let's take a walk, shall we?" Tim suggested. The other two nodded, beginning to leave. Jaime looked at his surroundings. His tribe was staring at him, shocked looks on their faces, except for one elderly man, Horizon, who was shaking his head disapprovingly before turning away.

"Jaime…" Zatanna spoke softly, shock clear in her voice. "Is… is there something you need to talk about?"

"No. I just lashed out. I shouldn't have." Jaime grumbled. "Completely my fault. I wasn't thinking. I'll apologize to Dick as soon as he gets back." he promised.

Zatanna nodded. "If you ever need to-"

"I'm going to be alright." Jaime reassured, and he took a deep breath. "I'll be in my tepee." and he disappeared beneath the flap.

"Man, I feel bad." Virgil mumbled as he walked up to Zatanna. "Totally didn't mean to be the cause of any conflict, I swear."

"Trust me, you're not." Zatanna muttered. "It's definitely something else at hand. Though I can't pin-point  _exactly_  what…"

"Can't you use a spell to figure that out?"

Zatanna giggled. "It doesn't exactly work that way."

x

Jaime summoned his wits as he saw the others return. He took another deep breath, walking up towards them. He could see them tense as he approached. "Look, I'm sorry. What I did was a terrible thing and I regret it immensely. You're right to want Bart back at STAR… and Bart, if you want to, go ahead. You probably should leave, it's for the best."

Bart didn't seem very pleased with the apology. "Can we talk? Somewhere private?"

"My tepee?" Jaime suggested.

"No. I mean, way private." Bart gestured to the distance.

"Oh, uh, sure." Jaime agreed, armoring up. He looked at Tim and Dick. "You don't mind me stealing him for a second, do you?"

"No, not at all." Tim replied, though the irritation in his voice couldn't be anymore obvious.

"...Great. See you two soon." he grabbed Bart and took off.

x

"So I'm guessing you're leaving." Jaime said as he set Bart down.

"No, I'm not." Bart sat on the cliff, picking at a patch of grass that was growing on it. "Are you ready?"

"Ready? Ready for what?" Jaime asked as he sat down.

"I guess there's no way to actually prepare you for this talk, so…" he threw his head back and sighed. "Jaime. My life isn't a fucking Shakespeare play.  _Your_  life is not a Shakespeare play. I know you're in love with me and that's fine, but you're too afraid to admit it to anybody, especially yourself, and you're making this tiny thing a huge problem like we're in a Shakespeare play. Like we're in a story with almost a hundred thousand words where it's just pure, minuscule drama made into some huge deal because the characters don't know how to handle love. It's stupid and that's not our life. Back in Chicago, I used to wallow in the problems of having to marry this girl I didn't want to and being too scared to make friends. As far as I'm concerned, if there is one thing that being out west has taught me, it's that we have bigger issues. You were right, Virgil's powers are a new problem and we're going to need all hands on deck and that's why I'm going to be here for when that happens. But like I said, remember this isn't a play. This isn't a romantic tragedy. This is a life where we don't know what kind of shit will be thrown at us, and your priority should be on figuring out Virgil's situation, not figuring out your feelings for me. Again, we have  _bigger problems,_  Jaime… basically, what I'm asking is, keep your mind focused on them. Keep your small problems small."

Jaime sighed. "You're right. About everything."

"To a T?"

"To a T."

"Then I guess we don't have to speak anymore on the subject."

"Just one thing." Jaime said.

"Hmm?"

"I think the west has done you some justice."

Bart grinned.

x

"Look! They're back." Tim pointed out. He walked up to Bart. "Hey, uh, Dick and I will be leaving in the morning, you can come with if you want, though I advise against it."

"Don't worry. I'm not coming with. For the  _right_ reasons." he reassured.

"Of course, Bart." Tim nodded. He smirked. "Look over there."

Bart squinted to see Dick holding Zatanna close to the point where their faces were almost touching, and they were talking about something.

"They seem to like each other." Bart said.

"Yeah, no doubt." Tim agreed. "I bet he's making her promise to come visit."

"Tim, if I can, and if it's during the right time… I will. Is that okay with you?" Bart asked.

"Of course. Just be careful about it though, okay?"

Bart nodded.

Both watched as Jaime walked up to Dick and Zatanna, and then sat down with Dick. And they talked. And then they continued to talk until it was time to eat lunch. Bart let out a sigh of relief. His two closest friends, coming to some sort of mutual understanding. That's exactly what needed to happen. Small problems were to be solved with small answers; and in this case, it was a simple conversation, not a death via plasma cannon.

Bart spent the day doing work with Virgil and explained everything he possibly could to him. His, Zatanna's, Jaime's, as well as Tim and Dick's backstories. What had happened with Windland and the Outlaws, up until they found Virgil himself.

Virgil talked about beginning to work with the Foleys, and talked about his friend Richie. Apparently, Richie was a genius as well as a technology maniac and was a huge fan of steam machinery and STAR labs. "He'd probably kill for a chance to meet you and your friends." Virgil mentioned. Bart giggled.

"No idea I was a celebrity."

"Hey man, after what happened to you in New York, you probably are. And you're soon gonna be famous as Impulse in the west if you and your friends keep playing hero. You just can't escape from the fame, man."

"Well, the upside is, at least I don't have to bear it alone."

x

Bart hugged his friends tightly. Tim smiled at him. "Hey. I know we're going to see each other again, so I'll build you another bird, alright?"

Bart smiled back. "I'd love that. Thanks, Tim."

Tim nodded, and both looked over to Dick, where he'd been kissing Zatanna for what seemed like a whole two and a half minutes now. Tim rolled his eyes. "Maybe they'll be finished by tomorrow."

Though, right after he said that, they separated. Dick hopped into the pilot seat of  _Nightwing_ , Tim entering the seat in the back. They waved off before taking off into the air, and after they were no longer visible, everyone resumed their tasks for the day.

Bart was happy that everything would be relatively relaxed by then.

He didn't know why he wasn't expecting a voice calling for Virgil to come echoing up the mountain.


End file.
